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THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA 


Proceedings  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress 


AT 


COLUMBIA,    TENNESSEE 


MAY  8-11,  1889 


PUBLISHED    BY    ORDER    OF 

THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 


T  NASHVILLE,  TENN.  : 

?  PUBLISHING  HOUSE  OF  THE  M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH. 

BAKBEE  &  SMITH,  AGENTS. 
1890. 


COPYRIGHT,  1890. 
SCOTCH-IRISH  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

'•>     Introduction,  by  Mr.  Robert  Bonner 1 

^    The  Scotch-Irish  Congress 3 

Officers  and  Committees  of  the  Local  Organization 10 

«2     Contributors  to  Expense  Fund. 12 

if*     Letters 13 

>•     Minutes,  and  Short  Addresses 24 

tjs     Officers  and  Committees  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Society  of  America 66 

{yfl 

3     Action  of  Committees 69 


in 
CM 


PART    II. 
The  Harp  of  Tom  Moore 70 

°  ADDRESSES   BT 

Ex-Governor  Proctor  Knott 72 

Prof.  George  Macloskie 90 

g     Rev.  John  Hall,  D.  D n 102 

^     Hon.  William  Wirt  Henry 110 

o     Rev.  D.  C.  Kelley,  D.  D....  .132 

a 

uj     Colonel  A.  K.  McClure 178 

Hon.  Benton  McMillin 187 

Rev.  John  S.  Macintosh,  D.D 191 

Hon.  W.  S.  Fleming 202 

(iii) 


449000 


To  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA  -. 

In  offering  this  compilation  to  the  Society,  and  the  gen 
eral  public,  we  do  not  pretend  that  it  is  a  complete  history 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  people.  That  will  require  the  systematic 
effort  of  years.  As  the  initial  volume  of  distinctive  Scotch- 
Irish  records,  however,  we  believe  that  it  will  prove  inter 
esting  and  satisfactory.  In  the  selection  and  arrangement 
of  the  matter  contained,  we  have  acted  with  the  advice  of 
the  Executive  Committee.  For  the  convenience  of  the 
reader,  the  formal  addresses,  bearing  directly  upon  the  race, 
have  been  taken  from  their  regular  order  in  the  minutes 
and  arranged  separately  in  Part  Second. 

The  addresses  are  published  as  they  were  delivered,  and 
we  do  not  assume  any  responsibility  for  the  views  of  the 
speakers.  We  bespeak  for  the  volume  kindly  reception  and 
consideration.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Lucius  FRIERSON, 
ROBERT  PILLOW, 

Publishing  Committee. 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA, 


INTRODUCTION". 

BY    ROBERT   BONNER. 

To  Mr.  Thomas  T.  Wright,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Florida,  be 
longs  the  credit  of  having  suggested  the  formation  of  an  organi 
zation  to  preserve  the  history  and  perpetuate  the  achievements 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  in  America.  Owing  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Wright,  who  was  ably  assisted  by  Mr.  A.  C.  Floyd  and  other  gen 
tlemen,  the  movement  was  started  which  resulted  in  the  grand  and 
successful  meeting  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  at  Columbia,  Tennes 
see,  in  May  last,  and  which  led  to  the  permanent  organization  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  Society  of  America. 

It  does  not  come  within  the  purpose,  scope  or  object  of  this 
Society  to  cultivate  or  in  any  way  encourage  sectarian  feeling,  for 
people  of  all  denominations  are  eligible  to  membership ;  nor  is  it  the 
purpose  of  the  Society  to  stimulate  undue  pride  of  race,  although  it 
is  impossible  to  ignore  the  historical  fact,  so  eloquently  stated  by 
William  Wirt  Henry,  ESQ.,  a  grandson  of  the  great  revolutionary 
orator,  that  the  Scotch-Irish  in  America  have  given  five  Presidents  to 
the  United  States. 

I  have  been  requested  to  write  an  introduction  to  this  volume, 
which  gives  a  carefully  prepared  report  of  the  action  of  the  late  Con- 

(1) 


2  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

gress;  but  it  appears  to  me  that  a  formal  or  lengthy  introduction 
would  be  superfluous.  The  eloquent  speeches  made  during  the  session 
of  the  Congress,  and  the  other  proceedings  of  that  body,  tell  their  own 
story.  They  exhibit  the  cordial  good  will,  the  patriotic  fervor,  the 
indomitable  spirit,  the  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  the  stern  integrity 
which  have  always  characterized  the  Scotch-Irish  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  Society  so  auspiciously  inaugurated  at  Columbia  will  develop, 
as  the  years  go  on,  into  an  organization  of  the  highest  usefulness. 


THE   SCOTCH-IKLsU    CONGRESS. 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  CONGRESS,  ITS  OBJECTS 
AND  RESULTS. 


BY    A.    C.    FLOYD. 


The  Scotch-Irish  people  have  been  second  to  none  in  their  influ 
ence  upon  modern  civilization.  Their  impress  upon  American  institu 
tions  has  been  especially  strong.  They  have  been  leaders  in  every 
sphere  of  life,  both  public  and  private.  They  were  the  first  to  declare 
independence  from  Great  Britain,  and  foremost  in  the  revolutionary 
struggle ;  leaders  in  the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
and  its  most  powerful  defenders;  most  active  in  the  extension  of  our 
national  domain,  and  the  hardiest  pioneers  in  its  development. 

The  associations  suggested  by  a  few  of  the  illustrious  men  of  the 
the  stock  are  sufficient  to  outline  the  extent  of  their  influence. 
Among  them  were  Patrick  Henry,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Wither- 
spoon,  John  Paul  Jones,  James  Madison,  John  Marshall,  Andrew 
Jackson,  James  K.  Polk,  James  Buchanan,  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

That  they  have  been  no  less  conspicuous  in  the  material  develop 
ment  and  intellectual  progress  of  the  country,  is  evidenced  by  the 
names  of  Robert  Fulton,  Horace  Greeley,  Robert  Bouuer,  and  the 
McCormicks. 

These  men  are  but  types  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  and  their  achieve 
ments  are  but  examples  of  the  numberless  illustrious  deeds  of  the 
race;  and  yet  no  distinct  and  connected  history  of  this  people  has 
ever  been  written.  Their  marked  and  distinctive  impress  upon  the 
country  and  their  proverbial  race  pride  renders  this  passing  strange, 
especially  in  this  history-writing  age,  when  the  Puritan,  the  Huguenot, 
the  Dutch,  and  every  other  class  and  nationality  composing  our  popu 
lation,  have  recorded  their  deeds  with  minutest  care.  In  this,  they 
have  done  nothing  more  than  perform  their  duty,  for  it  is  the  duty  of 
all  to  study  great  examples  and  hold  their  virtues  up  for  the  emulation 
of  on-coming  generations.  Thus  is  patriotism  cultivated  and  every 
noble  endeavor  stimulated.  Thoughtful  men,  indeed,  knew  the 
wealth  of  Scotch-Irish  achievement  and  keenly  felt  the  poverty  of  its 
recognition.  Where  else  could  nobler  types  of  manhood  be  found? 
The  hand  of  the  historian,  brushing  away  the  dust  of  time,  was  alone 


4  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 

needed  to  reveal  the  grandest  figures  of  the  world.  The  greatness  of 
the  fathers  still  lingered  in  the  traditions  of  the  children,  but  the  de 
lay  of  a  few  more  years  would  consign  them  to  an  oblivion  from 
which  they  could  never  be  recovered. 

If  the  work  was  ever  to  be  done,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should 
be  commenced  without  further  delay.  These  facts  were  recognized 
and  discussed,  but  the  demand  resulted  in  nothing  definite  until  it 
took  form  in  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  held  at  Columbia,  Tennessee, 
last  May. 

The  objects  to  be  attained  were  not  new ;  but  the  Congress, 
as  a  means  of  their  accomplishment,  was  altogether  original.  The 
projectors  of  this  gathering  fully  realized  the  extent  of  the  work  they 
had  undertaken,  and  desired  that  it  should  be  done  in  the  most 
thorough  and  comprehensive  manner  possible.  A  convention  com 
posed  of  representative  members  of  the  race  from  all  quarters  of  the 
country  commended  itself  to  them  as  the  best  means  of  beginning  the 
work. 

The  addresses  of  the  distinguished  speakers,  the  historical  papers 
submitted,  and  the  reminiscences  recounted  would  form  a  nucleus  for 
the  complete  collection  of  data  which  it  was  hoped  to  accumulate  in 
the  course  of  time.  Important  as  this  meeting  was  expected  to  be, 
however,  its  promoters  realized  that  it  could  only  begin  the  great 
work.  A  permanent  organization  was  necessary  to  continue  it.  Be 
sides,  a  Scotch-Irish  association  was  desirable  for  social  as  well  as  his 
torical  purposes.  In  this,  as  in  the  matter  of  history  writing,  they 
were  behind  all  others.  Every  other  people  in  Amerrca  had  banded 
themselves  together  for  purposes  of  mutual  pleasure  and  assistance. 
When  properly  directed,  these  societies  had  accomplished  much  good. 
Why  should  not  the  Scotch-Irish  organize  in  a  similar  manner?  Why 
should  not  their  proverbial  and  well  warranted  race  pride  serve  to 
focus  their  great  energies  upon  purposes  of  common  good  ?  Among 
the  many  great  objects  to  which  this  organized  power  could  be  applied 
was  the  collection  of  the  desired  historical  data  and  the  promotion  of 
social  intercourse. 

The  one  would  contribute  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  cultivation 
of  patriotism  ;  the  other  would  promote  the  warmest  fraternal  feeling. 
A  better  acquaintance  between  the  northern  and  southern  members  of 
the  race  would  bring  a  better  understanding  and  a  broader  sympathy, 
binding  the  two  sections  together  in  the  strong  and  enduring  bonds  of 
real  friendship.  To  effect  such  an  organization  was  the  second  great 
object  of  the  Congress. 

Among  all  the  states  of  the  Union,  none  could  have  been  more 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    CONGRESS.  5 

appropriate  for  the  gathering  than  Tennessee,  both  on  account  of  her 
geographical  position  and  the  blood  of  her  people.  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  and  South  Carolina  received  the 
first  great  accessions  of  Ulster  immigration ;  but  swarms  from  these 
parent  hives,  moving  westward  since  colonial  days,  now  make  Tennes 
see  about  the  center  of  the  blood  in  the  United  States.  Besides,  her 
intermediate  position  between  the  extreme  North  and  the  extreme 
South  makes  her  people  freer  from  sectional  prejudice  than  either  of 
these  quarters,  and,  therefore,  better  fitted  to  promote  the  fraternal 
spirit  which  the  convention  was  intended  to  foster.  In  no  other  state 
is  the  Scotch-Irish  blood  purer.  They  were  the  earliest  and  most  nu 
merous  of  her  pioneers.  On  the  banks  of  the  Watauga,  they  made 
the  first  American  settlement  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  it  was  they 
who  led  the  vanguard  in  the  march  of  civilization  westward  through 
her  territory.  They  filled  the  armies  that  subdued  the  savages  of  the 
West  and  South-west.  It  was  their  stern,  unalterable  courage  and 
determination  which  prevented  Great  Britain  and  Spain  from  confin 
ing  the  Americans  to  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  secured  the  Mississippi 
valley  to  the  Union.  Their  numbers  and  valor  in  every  war  in  which 
the  country  has  been  engaged  has  won  for  Tennessee  the  proud  title 
of  "The  Volunteer  State."  They  stamped  their  predominant  charac 
teristics  upon  their  descendants,  and  gave  the  prevailing  type  to  the 
character  of  the  whole  people.  It  was  but  natural  that  a  convention 
called  to  do  them  honor  should  meet  with  warmest  approval. 

Columbia,  the  place  chosen  for  the  first  Congress,  lies  in  the  very 
center  of  Tennessee,  and  her  Scotch-Irish  population,  surrounded  by 
a  country  widely  known  as  "  the  garden  spot  of  Tennessee" — a  country 
unsurpassed  for  salubrity  of  climate,  richness  and  variety  of  products, 
and  advantages  of  geographical  position.  This  heart  of  the  Middle 
Tennessee  Basin,  now  carpeted  with  a  rich  growth  of  blue  grass,  was 
originally  covered  by  luxuriant  cane-brakes,  the  infallible  sign  of  a 
fat  soil.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  Scotch-Irish  should  have  occupied 
it  first.  Always  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  the  pioneers,  the  richest 
lands  became  theirs  by  right  of  discovery  and  first  occupation,  while 
the  poorer  country  was  left  to  the  more  timid  people,  who  followed  at 
a  later  and  safer  period.  The  advantages  thus  acquired,  and  the 
characteristic  tenacity  with  which  they  have  been  held,  go  far  to  explain 
why  the  race  has  ever  since  been  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential 
of  the  people  in  the  countries  first  settled  by  them.  The  strength  of 
their  influence  in  Maury  county  is  illustrated  in  Judge  Fleming's 
sketch  of  Zion  Church,  and  Dr.  Kelly's  address,  published  in  this 
Among  the  distinguished  men  of  this  stock  whom  Maury 


6  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

county  has  produced  was  James  K.  Polk,  who  went  from  Columbia  to 
the  President's  chair. 

Another  thing  that  recommended  Columbia  was  her  railway  fa 
cilities.  These  roads,  running  north,  south,  east,  and  west,  make  her 
easily  accessible  from  every  quarter  of  the  country.  Arrived  here, 
visitors,  especially  those  from  the  North,  occupy  an  excellent  vantage 
point  from  which  to  visit  and  study  the  best  parts  of  the  South. 
Within  short  reach  by  rail  are  some  of  the  most  famous  battle-fields  of 
the  late  war — Franklin,  Nashville,  Murfreesboro,  Shiloh,  and  others, 
In  easy  communication,  also,  are  Florence,  Sheffield,  Birmingham,  and 
other  manufacturing  cities  of  the  celebrated  coal  and  iron  fields  of  the 
South,  affording  the  finest  illustrations  of  the  marvelous  industrial 
progress  which  this  section  is  "now  making.  These  advantages  and 
associations  rendered  Columbia  a  peculiarly  appropriate  place  for  the 
gathering. 

Having  decided  that  the  Congress  should  be  held,  and  that 
Columbia  was  the  place  to  hold  it,  the  initial  steps  in  the  arrange 
ments  for  it  were  taken  in  October,  1888.  This  action  was  prompted 
by  Colonel  T.  T.  Wright,  now  of  Nashville,  Tennessee.  To  him  be 
longs  the  honor  of  having  originated  this,  as  well  as  many  other  great 
ideas,  which  have  resulted  in  much  public  benefit.  He  not  only 
originated  the  idea  and  inspired  the  first  action  for  carrying  it  into 
effect,  but  gave  the  movement,  at  every  stage,  the  invaluable  aid  of 
his  advice,  time,  and  means. 

The  date  fixed  for  the  beginning  of  the  Congress  was  May  8, 
1889,  the  most  perfect  season  of  the  year  in  Tennessee.  Arrange 
ments  for  the  Congress  were  vigorously  and  systematically  pushed 
from  the  beginning.  Some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  race 
accepted  invitations  to  deliver  addresses  and  to  prepare  historical 
papers.  A  thousand  leading  newspapers  published  the  general  invita 
tion  to  the  race  issued  by  Governor  Taylor  and  the  Secretary ;  also, 
the  reports  sent  them  from  time  to  time,  as  events  developed,  together 
with  extensive  and  favorable  editorial  mention. 

GOVERNOR  TAYLOR'S  INVITATION. 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  NASHVILLE,  TENN. 
To  the  Scotch-Irish  Race : 

Recognizing  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  be  assembled  at  Colum 
bia,  in  this  state,  on  the  8th  of  May  next,  as  an  event  of  international 
interest,  Tennessee  will  welcome  to  it  representatives  of  that  lineage 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  No  political  or  sectarian  significance  at 
taches  to  the  Congress.  Its  object  is  to  revive  memories  of  the  race, 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   CONGRESS.  7 

and  to  collect  materials  for  compiling  a  history  showing  their  impress 
upon  modern  civilization,  especially  upon  American  institutions.  It 
promises  to  be  one  of  the  most  notable  meetings  ever  held  in  Ten 
nessee.  ROBERT  L.  TAYLOR, 

Governor. 

Private  invitations  were  sent  to  every  representative  man  of  the 
blood  whose  name  could  be  ascertained.  So  unique  and  manifestly 
desirable  was  the  gathering,  that  it  met  with  hearty  commendation 
from  all  to  whose  attention  it  was  brought.  Extensive  correspondence 
•was  developed,  and  the  interest  became  wide-spread.  The  latent  pride 
of  the  race  was  at  last  stirred,  and  the  enthusiasm  which  the  call  in 
spired  evidenced  its  strength  when  once  aroused.  Reduced  railroad 
fare  was  secured,  and  a  large  sum  of  money  was  readily  and  gener 
ously  subscribed  by  the  people  of  Columbia  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  occasion.  The  hospitable  people  vied  with  each  other  in  their 
preparations  for  entertaining  visitors. 

When  the  day  arrived,  every  detail  of  the  arrangements  was 
complete.  The  doors  of  every  house  stood  wide  open  with  welcome. 
The  town  was  gaily  decorated  and  thronged  with  visitors,  representing 
every  section  of  the  Union.  The  weather  was  perfect  throughout, 
and  all  the  exercises  were  held  in  a  great  tent  stretched  in  the  oak- 
canopied,  grass-carpeted  grove  of  the  Columbia  Athenaeum,  kindly 
offered  the  management  by  Captain  R.  D.  Smith,  president  of  this 
fine  old  institution  for  young  ladies.  The  Rogers  Band,  of  Goshen, 
Indiana,  rendered  delightful  music,  consisting  largely  of  Scotch  and 
Irish  airs,  prepared  especially  for  the  occasion. 

The  initial  proceedings  were  thus  described  by  the  Nashville 
American: 

"The  large  canopy  was  beautifully  decorated  with  flags  and 
bunting  of  all  kinds.  Long  streamers  extended  from  the  central  post 
to  the  various  points  of  the  outer  circumference,  producing  a  most 
harmonious  and  beautiful  effect.  A  large  stage,  thirty  feet  by  twenty, 
and  capable  of  comfortably  seating  fifty  persons,  had  been  erected 
under  the  south  side  of  the  tent.  Arches  spanned  its  front,  and  fes 
toons  of  lovely  flowers,  from  the  rose  to  the  evergreen,  graced  the 
arches  in  handsome  designs.  Vases  of  flowers  were  also  conspicuously 
displayed. 

"  Upon  the  stage  were  placed  a  large  painting  of  Jas.  K.  Polk 
and  an  old  and  historic  "Harp  of  Erin,"  the  hereditary  property  of 
Mrs.  Emma  McKinney,  of  the  Athenaeum. 

"It  was  not  long  before  the  spacious  audience-room,  so  to  speak, 


8  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 

was  filled  with  a  crowded  mass  of  humanity.  The  personnel  of  the 
audience  and  of  the  visitors  in  general  was  especially  good,  and  free 
from  all  the  rougher  elements.  Then  the  visitors,  the  descendants  of 
the  Scotch-Irish,  who  had  assembled  to  engage  in  the  events  of  the 
day,  lent  great  dignity  and  intellectuality  to  the  meeting. 

"  The  procession  formed  at  the  head-quarters  on  Garden  street  and 
in  front  of  the  Bethell  House  on  Seventh  street.  It  was  led  by  the 
Goshen  Band,  of  Goshen,  Indiana,  followed  by  the  Witt  Rifles,  of 
Columbia,  in  full  dress  uniform ;  then  the  carriages  containing  the 
visitors  and  members  of  the  Reception  Committee,  and  at  last  a 
large  concourse.  In  one  of  the  front  carriages  was  the  harp  of 
Tom  Moore,  in  charge  of  Captain  J.  T.  Craik,  Major  William  Polk, 
and  Colonel  H.  G.  Evans. 

"The  large  tent  had  already  been  crowded,  even  as  to  standing- 
room,  and  when  the  -procession  arrived,  its  proportions  amounted  to 
anywhere  between  6,000  and  10,000  people." 

There  were  two  sessions  of  the  Congress  each  day,  morning  and 
night.  The  tent  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  at  every  session  by 
cultured  and  appreciative  audiences.  In  the  afternoons,  many  of  the 
visitors  repaired  to  the  Fair  Grounds  at  South  Side  Park,  where  they 
were  entertained  with  exhibitions  of  speed  by  Tennessee's  fastest 
horses,  and  by  the  display  of  other  blooded  stock,  in  which  this 
country  stands  unexcelled.  Others  enjoyed  driving  over  the  numer 
ous  fine  pikes  which  radiate  in  every  direction  from  Columbia  like 
spokes  from  awheel,  leading  to  the  great  farms  and  points  of  historical 
interest  in  the  country. 

Representatives  of  the  race  from  every  section  of  the  country 
met  in  freest  and  most  cordial  social  intercourse.  Old  friendships 
were  renewed  and  new  ones  formed.  Rich  stores  of  tradition  were 
brought  to  light  and  valuable  historical  reminiscences  were  recalled. 
Memories  of  the  past  were  revived,  thoughts  of  the  present  inter- 
changed,  and  hopes  of  the  future  discussed.  Among  the  attendants 
were  many  old  Federal  and  ex-Confederate  soldiers,  attracted  hither 
by  the  reunion  of  the  blue  and  the  gray,  and  a  desire  to  revisit  the 
surrounding  battle-fields  of  the  late  civil  strife.  Upon  these  fields, 
but  a  few  years  ago,  these  veterans  had  met  each  other  in  deadliest 
conflict.  Now  they  met  with  hearty  hand-shake  and  the  warm  regard 
felt  by  men  who  have  proved  each  other's  true  manhood  in  the  severest 
ordeals. 

The  Congress  was  a  complete  success  in  every  particular,  but  its 
crowning  result  was  the  organization  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Society  of 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  CONGRESS.  9 

America,  which  will  take  up  and  carry  on  in  a  systematic  way  the 
work  so  auspiciously  begun. 

The  principal  objects  of  the  Society  have  already  been  outlined. 
Its  purposes  are  social  and  historical.  Through  its  members,  sketches 
of  the  families  represented  and  of  the  race  in  general,  together  with 
interesting  relics  connected  with  their  history,  will  be  collected. 

Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  has  kindly  offered  to  become  cus 
todian  of  this  data  for  the  present,  but  in  the  course  of  time  the  So 
ciety  will  have  a  permanent  home  for  its  reception. 

The  data  thus  obtained  will  be  properly  acknowledged,  and  the 
manuscripts  filed  in  the  archives  of  the  Society  for  reference,  or  for  use 
in  the  annual  publications  hereafter  to  be  issued. 

No  partisan  or  sectarian  significance  attaches  to  the  Society. 
Composed  of  a  race  thoroughly  identified  with  all  that  has  been  most 
patriotic  in  our  country,  it  is  purely  an  American  institution,  and  does 
not  propose  to  concern  itself  with  foreign  affairs. 

.The  social  features  of  the  organization  promise  large  results. 
The  Congress  at  Columbia  gave  earnest  of  the  good  fellowship  which 
may  be  expected  from  the  annual  gatherings  hereafter.  The  publica 
tions  of  the  Society,  and  the  development  and  extension  of  its  organ 
ization,  will  promote  correspondence  among  its  members,  increase  their 
knowledge  of  one  another,  and  draw  them  into  closer  relations  of 
friendship  and  sympathy. 

Though  but  a  short  time  has  elapsed  since  the  conditions  of 
membership  were  definitely  settled,  it  has  already  reached  grati 
fying  proportions.  Numerous  applications  for  enrollment  have  been 
received  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  from  men  occupying  the 
highest  positions  in  every  sphere  of  life.  Systematic  plans  are 
in  operation,  by  which  every  member  who  joins  becomes  instrumental 
in  bringing  others  into  the  Society.  The  membership  is  advancing 
by  geometrical  progression,  and  the  present  plans  continued  will  in 
no  great  length  of  time  bring  a  knowledge  of  the  Society  to  every 
person  of  Scotch-Irish  descent  in  America.  There  is  practically  no 
limit  to  its  possible  power  and  usefulness. 


10  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 


OFFICERS  OF   THE   LOCAL   ORGANIZATION 
OF   THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   CONGRESS. 

President. 
COLONEL  E.  C.  MCDOWELL, 

Vice-President. 
HON.  J.  H.  FUSSELL. 

Secretary, 
A.  C.  FLOYD. 

Treasurer. 
Lucius  FRIERSON. 

Executive  Committee. 

HON.  W.  J.  WHITTHORNE,  Chairman. 
HON.  J«  H.  FUSSELL,  T.  B.  KELLY, 

E.  E.  ERWIN,  A.  C.  FLOYD. 

Advisory  Board. 

COLONEL  T.  T.  WRIGHT,  Chairman. 
CHAIRMEN  OF  OTHER  COMMITTEES. 

Finance  Committee. 

GEO.  L.  THOMAS,  Chairman. 

JAS.  ANDREWS,  S.  D.  F.  McEwEN, 

A.  BARR,  JOHN  MOORE,  JR., 

COLONEL  H.  A.  BROWN,  B.  S.  THOMAS. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  11 


Military  Committee. 

HON.  J.  H.  FUSSELL,  Chairman. 
COLONEL  H.  G.  EVANS,  CAPTAIN  H.  P.  SEAVY. 

Transportation  Committee. 

COLONEL  H.  G.  EVANS,  Chairman. 
DR.  T.  B.  RAINS,  CAPTAIN  H.  P.  SEAVY. 

Committee  on  Music. 

CAPTAIN  J.  T.  CRAIK,  Chairman. 
DR.  W.  C.  SHEPPARD,  CAPTAIN  H,  P.  SEAVY. 

Reception  Committee. 

CAPTAIN  H.  P.  SEAVY,  Chairman. 
W.  J.  HINE,  JOHN  C.  DEXTER, 

Entertainment  Committee. 

MAYOR  ROBERT  PILLOW,  Chairman. 
8.  D.  F.  McEwEN,  W.  C.  TAYLOR. 

Decoration  Committee. 

Miss  GOBY  DUNNINGTON. 

MRS.  J.  H.  FUSSELL,  MRS.  W.  J.  HINE, 

MRS.  JOE  HENDLEY,  MRS.  E.  W.  GAMBLE. 

Badges  and  Mail. 
Miss  FLORENCE  IRVINE. 


12 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 


CONTRIBUTORS    TO    THE     SCOTCH-IRISH 
CONGRESS  EXPENSE   FUND. 


GEO.  L.  THOMAS, 

JOHN  MOORE,  JR., 

A.  N.  DALE, 

JAMES  ANDREWS, 

E.  W.  GAMBLE, 

BAILEY  &  MOORE, 

A.  N.  AKIN, 

FRIERSON  &  TITCOMB, 

HOLDING  &  COCHRAN, 

MRS.  E.  JONES, 

REV.  GEO.  BECKETT, 

E.  E.  ERWIN, 

W.  P.  INGRAM, 

MAJOR  WILL.  POLK, 

T.  N.,  C.  T.,  and  W.  C.  JONES, 

S.  T.  COOK, 

DR.  J.  H.  WILKES, 

NICHOLS  &  FARISS, 

A.  D.  FRIERSON, 

W.  J.  HOWARD, 

W.  F.  EMBRY, 

STREET,  EMBRY  &  Co., 

C.  C.  GROSS, 

LAMB  &  SMITH, 

J.  D.  WRIGHT, 

J.  T.  CRAIK, 

E.  H.  HATCHER, 

H.  A.  McL/EMORE  &  BRO., 

HENRY  GROSS, 

A.  MAXVILLE, 

A.  G.  ADAMS,  of 


H.  A.  BROWN, 
Lucius  FRIERSON, 
MA  YES  &  WALKEB, 
R.  P.  RUSSELL, 
McEwEN  &  DALE, 
A.  BARR, 
BETHELL  HOUSE, 
DOBBINS  &  EWING, 
CAPERTON  &  TAYLOR, 

F.  J.  HENDLEY, 
FIGURES  &  PADGETT, 
GEO.  N.  SARVEN, 
W.  J.  WEBSTER, 
JOHN  B.  ASHTON, 
GEO.  CHILDRESS, 

H.  G.  EVANS, 
JOSEPH  TOWLER, 
CHAFFIN  BROS., 
RAINS  &  SON, 
DR.  ROBERT  PILLOW, 
J.  P.  McGAW,  JR., 
JAMES  BROS., 
EDGAR  JAMES, 
SATTERFIELD  &  CHURCH, 
W.  C.  SHEPPARD, 
MRS.  ELLEN  MAYES, 

G.  T.  HUGHES, 
ANDREWS  &  MCGREGOR, 
G.  P.  FRIERSON, 

I.    M.    SULIVAN, 

Nashville. 


LETTERS.  13 


LETTERS. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  April  1,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  ESQ., 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  20th  inst., 
inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  at  Columbia, 
Tenn.,  on  the  8th  of  May  next.  I  regret  that  my  engagements  will 
prevent  my  acceptance;  but  beg  you  will  accept  for  yourself,  and 
convey  to  the  members  of  the  Association,  my  sincere  appreciation  of 
your  courtesy,  and  my  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  meeting. 

Very  truly  yours, 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


NEW  YORK,  April  13,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  ESQ., 

Secretary,  etc 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  desire  to  acknowledge,  with  thanks,  the  cordial 
invitation  I  have  received  to  attend  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  be 
held  at  Columbia,  Tennessee,  on  the  8th  of  May  next. 

I  regret  that  prior  engagements  will  prevent  my  acceptance  of 
your  courteous  invitation. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


NEW  YORK,  May  3,  1889. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Sec'y  Scotch-Irish  Congress, 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 
DEAR  SIR: 

Upon  my  return  from  an  extended  trip  through 
the  South,  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  favor, 
dated  April  25th. 


14  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

I  regret  exceedingly  that  business  engagements,  already  made,  so 
engross  my  time  at  the  date  of  your  Congress,  that  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  give  myself  the  satisfaction  of  attendance.  I  cordially  appreciate 
your  earnest  invitation,  though  unable  to  accept  it,  and,  as  my  best 
alternative,  have  taken  pleasure  in  providing  a  car  for  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Hall,  Mr.  Robert  Bonner,  and  several  other  gentlemen,  who 
will  doubtless  be  at  the  meeting. 

Regretting  that  circumstances  forbid  my  being  with  you,  I  re 
main,  Very  sincerely,  yours, 

JOHN  H.  INMAN. 


WAR  OFFICE,  LONDON,  February  1,  1889. 
SIR: 

I  have  received,  with  much   gratification,  your 

Excellency's  letter  of  the ult.,  inviting  me  to  attend  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Congress,  to  be  assembled  at  Columbia,  Tennessee,  on  the  8th 
of  May  next. 

I  regret  very  much  that  the  pressure  of  my  official  duties  pre 
cludes  the  possibility  of  my  proceeding  to  the  United  States  at  that 
season  of  thef  year.  I  am  compelled"  to  decline  the  honor  of  the  flat 
tering  invitation  which  your  Excellency  has  conveyed  to  me  in  such 
courteous  terms. 

1  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir, 

Your  Excellency's  obedient  servant, 

WOLSELEY. 
His  EXCELLENCY,  R.  L.  TAYLOR, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 


PHILADELPHIA,  February  21,  1889. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Secretary. 
DEAK  SIR: 

I  thank  you  for  the  invitation  of  February  16lK. 
to  attend  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  to  assemble  at  Columbia,  Tenn., 
on  the  8th  of  May  next.  I  should  greatly  enjoy  meeting  the  men 
and  women  whom  your  invitation  will  doubtless  draw  to  yout-  beauti 
ful  city,  but  regret  that  my  engagements  will  not  permit  me  to  be 
present. 


LETTERS.  15 

No  racial  element  has  had  more  important,  and,  I  think  I  may 
say,  healthful  influence,  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  our  Republic  than 
the  Scotch-Irish.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  great  belt  of  middle 
and  border  states.  The  very  backbone  of  these  commonwealths  has 
been  drawn  from  the  heathered  hills  of  Scotland  and  the  green  slopes 
of  Ulster.  The  thistle  and  the  shamrock  have  found  the  free  Repub 
lic  of  the  West  a  congenial  environment,  and  have  flourished  here 
most  vigorously. 

I  trust  that,  in  the  future,  those  chief  characteristics,  grace  and 
grit,  which  have  made  them  so  valuable  a  force  in  the  formation  of 
our  young  commonwealths,  may  continue  without  enervation  or 
waste. 

I  trace  my  lineage  on  my  mother's  side  to  a  New  England  family 
of  early  settlement;  but  my  paternal  name  and  blood  are  drawn 
from  a  Scotch-Irishman  of  Ulster,  who,  with  a  Scotch  wife,  emigrated 
to  America  in  the  ninth  decade  of  the  last  century.  As  such,  I  feel 
proud  of  my  ancestral  descent,  and  extend  to  you  hearty  sympathy, 
and  through  you  to  all  whom  you  represent,  in  your  effort  to  commem 
orate  the  worth,  works,  and  imperishable  influence  of  our  Scotch-Irish 
ancestors.  Very  truly,  yours, 

HENRY  C.  McCOOK. 


MEMPHIS,  TENN.,  May  7,  1889. 
MR.  THOMAS  T.  WRIGHT. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

I  regret  very  much  that  I  can  not  attend  the 
Scotch-Irish  Congress  at  Columbia.  Business  engagements  of  an  im 
perative  character  detain  me  in  Memphis,  and  will  keep  me  here  dur 
ing  the  days  when  it  will  be  in  session. 

I  am  quite  alive  to  the  value  of  such  a  gathering  from  a  historical 
point  of  view,  and  as  a  means  of  vindicating  the  high  position  in  use 
fulness  of  the  Scotch-Irish  almost  ever  since  the  foundation  of  the 
American  colonies.  They  came  first  into  history  as  a  result  of  the 
settlement  of  Scotch  immigrants  in  Ireland  during  the  reign  of  the 
first  James,  and  from  that  hour  to  this  have  been  distinguished,  above 
all  things,  for  the  courage  of  their  convictions.  They  have  always 
been  tenacious  as  Protestants  and  lovers  of  individual  liberty.  Even 
in  the  church  organizations,  as  Presbyterians,  while  adhering  to  "  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  they  have,  on  occasions,  openly  de- 


16  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

clared  dissent,  and  in  a  spirit  that  even  the  British  government  in 
dealing  with  them  has  always  recognized,  have  been  ready  to  maintain 
it  to  the  death.  Thus  founded  in  protest  against  what  they  believed 
were  "  errors  of  faith  and  practice,"  contending  for  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  and  asserting  their  opposition  to  prelacy,  and,  therefore, 
kingly  government,  they  were  practically  republicans.  King  James 
himself  acknowledged  this  when,  in  a  moment  of  anger,  excited  by 
the  demands  of  the  Presbyterian  divines,  he  said,  "  No  bishop,  no 
king."  The  Scotch-Irish,  therefore,  came  to  this  country  the  ready 
servants  of  republican  liberty.  Hence,  when  revolution  impended, 
they,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1775,  at  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina, 
made  the  first  and  most  daring  declaration  of  independence. 

In  heart  and  conscience  they  had  always  been  independent,  and 
they  valued  liberty  above  life.  The  names  of  the  delegates  present  at 
the  convention  that  adopted  that  declaration  are  nearly  all  of  them 
Scotch-Irish.  Polk,  Alexander,  Barry,  Downs,  Graham,  Irwin, 
Morrison,  McClure,  Wilson,  and  Patton,  are  all  Scotch-Irish  names. 

Thus,  the  race  whose  deeds  are  to  be  celebrated  at  Columbia  by 
the  Congress  held  this  week,  were  first  in  the  race  for  liberty  on  this 
continent,  and  their  subsequent  bearing  during  and  after  the  Revolu 
tionary  war  has  proven  that  they  have  been  worthy  of  that  liberty. 
The  men  of  Mecklenburg  were  influential  in  the  settlement  of  this 
state — were,  indeed,  its  founders,  and  in  celebrating  the  Scotch-Irish 
race,  we  also  celebrate  the  men  who  established  the  government  of  the 
Watauga  Association  and  made  the  Volunteer  State.  They  fought 
under  Sevier,  were  the  companions  and  comrades  of  James  Robinson 
in  the  Mero  district,  fought  the  Indians  under  Jackson  from  the  Ten 
nessee  river  to  the  Florida  everglades,  defeated  the  British  at  New 
Orleans,  and  compelled  the  Spaniards  to  give  up  Florida,  thus  ending 
forever  the  claims  of  Spain  to  the  Mississippi  river.  They  were  sub 
sequently  conspicuous  in  the  Texas  revolution  and  in  the  Mexican 
war;  and  in  the  civil  war,  now  fast  becoming  but  a  memory,  they 
were  among  the  first  for  gallantry,  as  the  names  of -John  C.  Brown, 
Porter,  Bates,  McNeil,  and  others,  attest. 

Blended  and  fused  with  the  great  mass  of  a  population  whose 
power  of  assimilation  is  a  marvel  of  our  time,  the  Scotch-Irish  are 
losing  their  distinctiveuess  on  this  continent.  It  is,  therefore,  well 
that  their  history  should  be  recovered  and  eliminated  from  all  other 
histories,  and  thus  be  held  sacred  by  their  descendants,  for  there  is 
much  of  incentive  in  example.  And  what  nobler  example  of  high 
moral  qualities,  of  courage  and  endurance,  can  be  found  anywhere 
than  with  the  Scotch-Irish,  who,  believing  in  the  right  of  private 


LETTERS.  17 

judgment,  have  always  contended  for  a  government  resting  on  a 
basis  of  consent. 

Very  respectfully, 

M.  KEATING. 


LIVERPOOL,  March  30,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  ESQ., 

Secretary  to  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress, 
COLUMBIA,  TENN.,  U.  S.  A. 

DEAK  SIR: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  invitation  to  attend  the 
Scotch-Irish  Congress  in  your  city  on  the  8th  of  May  next,  and  I  very 
much  regret  I  can  not  avail  myself  of  it,  as  I  am  about  to  start  for  a 
trip  to  Australia,  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  do  not  expect  to 
reach  America  till  next  spring. 
I  am,  dear  sir, 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  MCDOWELL. 


"BATTLE    HlLL," 

JACKSON,  Miss.,  March  2,  1889. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Secretary. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the 
23d  last,  extending  invitation  to  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  meet  in 
Columbia  in  May. 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  such  an  organization  is  effected,  and  I  am 
sure  it  will  be  of  great  use  in  keeping  our  esprit  de  corps  among  the 
members  of  a  race  which  is  exceeded  by  no  other  in  the  number  of 
distinguished  men  in  all  lines 'who  have  made  our  country  illustrious. 
The  characteristics  of  the  race  are  of  the  best.  Steadfast,  stal 
wart,  true  to  conviction,  tough  brained  but  tender  hearted,  the  men 
have  always  been  who  are  called  "  Scotch-Irish." 

I  have  to  say  what  I  said  in  a  published  speech  in  Derry  last 
summer:  "I  have  always  been  proud  to  call  myself  an  Ulsterman, 
2 


18  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMERICA. 

proud  that  I  am  a  born  Derryman,  a  son  of  the  men  that  starved  and 
prayed  and  fought,  but  never  surrendered." 

I  deeply  regret  the  appointments  for  my  work  are  such  that  I  am 
unable  to  accept  your  invitation  for  this  year.     Meanwhile,  I  hope,  at 
another  meeting  to  come  up  with  the  tribes. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

HUGH  MILLER  THOMPSON, 

Bishop  of  Mississippi. 


UNITED  STATES  SENATE, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  December  28,  1888. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Secretary, 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 

DEAK  SIR  : 

Your  letter,  inviting  me  to  deliver  an  address 
before  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  on  the  15th  of  next  May,  has  been 
received.  I  am  greatly  pleased  with  the  suggestion  of  this  Congress 
and  its  purposes,  and  am  honored  by  your  invitation  to  address  it. 
The  political  situation  forbids  my  making  any  positive  engagement  so 
far  ahead,  but  it  is  my  intention  to  accept  your  invitation,  should  the 
calls  of  duty  here  not  prevent. 

When  this  session  of  Congress  shall  have  expired,  and  I  can  see 
what  the  next  year  promises,  I  shall  communicate  with  you  again. 
Very  respectfully  and 

Truly  yours, 

Z.  B.  VANCE. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  6,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  ESQ., 

Secretary, 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  cordial  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  be  held  at  your  city  on  the 
8th  of  May  next.  It  would  afford  me  real  pleasure  to  honor  the 
memory  of  the  Scotch-Irish  emigrants  who  came  to  this  country  and 


COL.  THOMAS  T.  WRIGH 


LETTERS.  1& 

did  so  much  to  elevate  and  strengthen  the  character  of  our  people. 
In  my  remarks  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  2,  1886, 
on  the  death  of  Vice-President  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  I  referred  to 
his  father,  and  to  his  uncle,  who  was  governor  of  Indiana  and  senator 
from  that  state  in  the  U.  S.  Congress  in  1822  to  1825  and  in  1837: 

"  They  were  Scotch-Irish  pioneers,  belonging  to  a  race  of  men  of 
splendid  physical  form,  courage,  and  endurance,  and  renowned  for 
their  mental  vigor  and  strength  of  character.  These  pioneers  were 
the  ancestors  of  many  distinguished  families  of  the  South  and  West. 
Wherever  these  brave  men  fixed  their  abode,  the  land  brought  forth 
abundance  and  the  people  prospered." 

It  is,  therefore,  with  regret  I  am  constrained  to  deny  myself  the 
pleasure  of  being  with  you  on  that  occasion. 

I  hope  you  will  have  a  successful  meeting,  and  that  its  results 
may  be  beneficial  to  the  welfare  and  glory  of  our  common  country. 

Yours  truly, 

SAM.  J.  RANDALL. 


BROOKLYN,  March  19,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  ESQ., 

Secretary  Scotch-Irish  Congress. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Only  previous  engagements  could  hinder  me 
from  accepting  your  kind  invitation,  for  which  I  thank  you.  Had 
the  invitation  come  a  little  earlier,  I  could  have  accepted  it,  but  now 
I  am  harnessed  for  other  service.  Most  appropriate  is  it  that  the  peo 
ple  come  together  and  celebrate  the  achievements  of  that  wondrous 
and  magnificent  race,  the  Scotch-Irish. 

Again  thanking  you  for  the  courtesy  of  your  letter,  I  am, 
Yours,  etc., 

T.  DE  WITT  TALMAGE. 


GERMAN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY, 

DUBUQUE,  IA.,  April  6,  1889. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Secretary  of  Scotch-Irish  Congress. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  find  it  impossible  to  avail  myself  of  the  honor 
and  pleasure  of  attendance  at  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  convene 


20  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

on  the  third  prox.,  to  which  your  favor  of  February  16th  so  cour 
teously  and  cordially  invited  me. 

At  first,  I  had  hoped  to  so  arrange  former  engagements  as  to  be 
able  to  attend,  but  I  find  this  impossible.  Few  things  would  have 
given  me  such  true  and  permanent  pleasure  as  this  first  organization 
of  a  much-needed  association.  All  classes  and  races  have  their  racial 
organizations;  but  in  this  country,  the  greatest  and  most  energetic 
race  in  the  land  has  hitherto  contented  itself  with  the  preservation  of 
its  identity  and  unifying  power,  which  pertain  to  great  achievements, 
in  peaceful  arts,  the  discoveries  of  science,  moral  leadership,  and  he 
roic  deeds  at  the  formative  epochs  of  national  history. 

The  Scotch-Irish  race  is,  indeed,  sui  generis,  if  not  altogether 
unique ;  for,  while  possessed  of  strongly  marked  individuality,  it  nev 
ertheless  freely  coalesces  with  all  who  seek  whatsoever  things  are  true, 
honest,  just,  lovely,  and  of  good  report.  This  race  has  the  strong 
will,  religiosity,  and  shrewdness  of  the  Hebrew,  the  philosophic  pro 
fundity  of  the  German,  the  political  sagacity  and  conservatism  of  the 
English,  and  withal,  when  needs  be,  the  audacity  of  the  French. 
What  wonder  that  such  a  race  has  occupied  so  large  a  place  in  the  his 
tory  of  our  country  ?  When,  in  this  land,  were  not  the  ablest  of  di 
vines,  the  bravest  of  generals,  the  wisest  of  statesmen,  not  found 
among  the  well-trained  families  of  this  race?  Surely,  it  is  time  that 
the  sons  of  such  a  race  confederate  themselves  in  closer  ties  of 
visible  kinship.  With  such  an  ancestry  and  history,  justice  to  the 
storied  dead,  and  self-respect  of  the  living,  demand  such  an  organiza 
tion  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  in  these  United  States  as  your  letter 
indicates. 

That  the  forthcoming  convention  may  prove  worthy  of  the  great 
occasion  and  of  the  thoughtful  hospitality  that  invites  it,  is  the 
sincere  wish  of 

Yours,  with  much  respect, 

A.  MCCLELLAND. 


PUBLIC  LEDGER  BUILDING,  PHILADELPHIA. 
MR.  A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Secretary  Scotch-Irish  Congress, 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

When  I  wrote  you  in  March,  it  was  under  the 
impression  that  the  date  fixed  for  the  assembling  at  Columbia,  Ten- 


LETTERS.  21 

nessee,  of  the  "  Scotch-Irish  "  Congress,  was  May  15th  inst.,  as  printed 
on  the  official  letter-head.  Finding  subsequently  that  the  actual  date 
is  May  8th,  I  am  obliged  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  accepting  your  wel 
come  invitation,  which  I  very  much  regret. 

The  occasion  is  one  of  exceeding  interest  in  many  states ;  but 
great  as  that  interest  is  elsewhere,  it  can  hardly  equal  that  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Pennsylvania,  where  the  pioneers  of  the  "Scotch-Irish"  im 
migrants  found  their  first  resting-places  in  their  adventurous  move 
ment,  which  led  them  later  on  to  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky, 
Ohio,  and  Tennessee,  as  well  as  into  the  then  almost  unbroken  wastes 
of  Southern  and  Western  Pennsylvania.  Every-where  along  that 
southern  line  of  our  state,  especially  west  of  the  Susquehauna  and 
throughout  the  Cumberland,  Juniata,  and  Ligonier  valleys,  they  have 
left  the  indelible  characteristic  marks  of  their  early  presence,  just  as 
they  have  among  the  eminent  families  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia, 
Tennessee  and  North  Carolina.  Their  course  as  pioneers  is  traceable 
by  a  track  across  that  broad  expanse  of  territory  almost  as  distinct,  in 
an  ethnological  point  of  view,  as  are  the  rock  strata  that  mark  the 
coal  and  iron  bearing  veins  across  a  geological  horizon. 

The  characteristics  referred  to  are  well  understood  by  all  students 
of  the  course  of  migration  into  the  wild  forest  lands  of  America  by 
the  streams  of  colonists — colonists  of  the  widely  varying  sects  and 
races  from  European  countries  in  the  early  days  of  our  history.  Dis 
tinct  as  the  Puritan,  or  the  Pilgrim,  or  the  Cavalier,  or  the  Catholic, 
or  the  Quaker,  or  the  German  Lutheran  and  Moravian,  or  the  Hugue 
not,  were  the  "  Scotch-Irish,"  or,  as  I  would  prefer  to  put  it,  the  Irish 
and  the  Scots,  who  carne  into  Pennsylvania  to  help  to  populate  it  and 
the  adjacent  provinces  (now  states)  to  the  south  and  west.  They 
were  high-spirited  people,  moved  by  lofty  motives — not  so  much 
proselytism  in  their  particular  religious  faith,  as  by  the  purpose  to  find 
a  region  in  the  new  world  where  they  could  assert  their  right  to  decide 
what  form  of  government  they  would  live  under — the  right  to  choose 
for  themselves  their  own  rulers,  whether  for  their  political  security  or 
the  welfare  of  their  souls.  They  were,  to  an  uncommonly  large  de 
gree,  men — and  women,  too — with  a  robust  vigor  of  intellect,  in  full 
keeping  with  the  stalwart  muscular  development  which  was  the  phys 
ical  characteristic  of  a  large  proportion  of  them.  They  were  earnest 
and  brave  people,  full  of  energy,  of  self-assertion  of  their  own  right 
to  free  thought  and  free  action,  and  full  of  the  energy  and  high  pur 
pose  that  make  patriots ;  yet  comparatively  exempt  from  the  fierce 
fanaticism  of  the  mere  propagandist.  They  were  born  pioneers  of  the 


22  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

wilderness  and  leaders  of  other  men.  In  all  of  the  five  or  six  contig 
uous  states  south  and  west  of  the  middle  line  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
names  of  these  Irish  and  Scotch  pioneers  and  of  their  descendants 
shine  with  luster  in  histories  and  annals  as  among  their  noblest  patri 
ots,  statesmen,  soldiers,  scholars,  and  men  of  renown. 

It  would  be  to  make  a  catalogue  of  leading  family  names  in 
broad  regions  of  those  states  to  attempt  to  individualize,  for  it  could 
not  fail  to  be  invidious  if  only  some  were  named.  Their  history  and 
their  work  and  their  enduring  influence  should  be  written  in  a  large 
way;  and  if  this  should  be  an  outcome  of  the  Columbia  "  Scotch  - 
Irish  Congress,"  it  will  be  a  valuable  result,  and  a  most  instructive 
history  to  the  whole  country. 

I  do  not  know,  of  course,  what  other  reason  there  was  than  the 
promise  of  the  most  genial  weather,  that  decided  the  choice  of  May 
8th  for  the  date  of  the  assembling  of  the  Congress ;  but  either  by  in 
tent  or  by  happy  coincidence,  your  committees  have  come  close  to  a 
notable  anniversary  in  the  annals  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
immigrants  into  the  American  colonies.  It  was  on  the  ninth  (9th)  of 
May,  1729,  that  the  good  ship  "  George  and  Ann"  set  sail  from  Ire 
land  to  bring  to  Philadelphia  the  McDowells,  the  Irvines,  the  Camp 
bells,  the  O'Neills,  the  McElroys,  the  Mitchells,  and  their  compatriots, 
who  penetrated  to  interior  Pennsylvania,  and  thence  went  west  and 
south.  With  these  were  the  high-bred  and  brave  Margaret  O'Neill 
and  Margaret  Lynn.  I  am  not  so  sure  of  the  ship  that  brought  the 
Breckinridge  company,  whether  the  one  just  named,  or  the  "John 
of  Dublin,"  or  some  other;  but  I  find  recorded  that,  on  the  22d  of 
May,  1740,  fourteen  heads  of  families  went  to  Orange  Court  House, 
Virginia,  under  the  leadership  of  Alexander  Breckinridge;  that 
Breckinridge  there  made  oath  that  he  "had  imported  himself  from 
Ireland  to  Philadelphia,"  together  with  John,  George,  Robert,  Smith, 
and  Letitia  Breckinridge;  and  thence  to  this  colony  (Virginia). 
Among  these  heads  of  families  "imported  from  Ireland  to  Philadel 
phia"  were  John  Trimble,  David  Logan,  James  Caldwell,  and,  I 
think,  John  Preston.  In  fact,  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania  fur 
nished  the  gateway,  the  first  resting  place,  and  the  course  of  "  Scotch- 
Irish  "  adventure  and  enterprise,  as  they  moved  west  and  south. 

We  of  Pennsylvania  may,  therefore,  fairly  ask  the  Columbia 
Congress  to  bear  that  fact  affectionately  in  mind ;  and  that,  while  you 
are  celebrating  the  merits  and  virtues  of  distinguished  and  eminent 
western  and  southern  families,  that  Philadelphia  has  her  annals  richly 
illustrated  with  Meades  and  Moylans,  Breckinridges  and  Barrys, 


LETTERS.  23 

Waynes  and  St.  Clairs,  Allisons,  Armstrongs,  and  Fultons,  McKeans, 
McClures,  McKibbens,  and  McCooks;  with  Thomas  Fitzgibbons, 
James  Mease,  Sharp  Delaney,  and  stout  old  Blair  McClenaghen,  with 
others  of  the  leaders  of  the  "Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,"  renowned 
among  Philadelphia  merchants  and  patriots  of  the  revolutionary  days. 
With  great  respect, 

GEORGE  W.  CHILDS. 


BRITISH  EMBASSY, 

ROME,  February  13,  1889. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  WRIGHT: 

I  am  very  much  gratified  by  the  kind  invitation 

which  you  have  sent  me  to  attend  the  forthcoming  Congress  ;  but  as  I 
am  now  on  my  way  home,  after  four  years'  absence  from  England,  it 
would,  I  regret,  be  out  of  my  power  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

With  renewed  thanks  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me,  believe 
me,  my  dear  Mr.  Wright, 

Yours  sincerely, 

DUFFERIN  AND  AVA. 


24  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 


MINUTES. 

COLUMBIA,  TENN.,  May  8,  1889. 
MOKNING  SESSION. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  11  o'clock  by  Colonel  E.  C. 
McDowell,  President  of  the  Local  Organization. 

Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall,  of  New  York,  led  in  prayer,  as  follows : 

O,  God  Almighty,  our  Heavenly  Father :  We  are  gathered  to 
gether  in  unusual  circumstances.  We  pray  that  we  may  have  the 
help  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  that  with  reverence  and  devoutness  we  may 
come  together  to  speak  unto  thee.  May  thy  divine  spirit  enlighten 
the  understanding  of  each  of  us;  may  it  guide  our  thoughts;  may  it 
raise  our  affections  to  heavenly  things ;  may  it  be  to  us  at  this  moment 
a  spirit  of  grace  and  supplication. 

We  worship  thee,  O  God ;  we  magnify  thy  great  and  holy  name. 
Thou  art  the  King  of  kings,  and  the  Lord  of  lords.  Thou  dost  de 
termine  the  lives  of  individuals ;  thou  dost  control  the  fate  of  nations ; 
all  things  are  present  to  thy  holy  eye ;  thou  art  from  everlasting  and  to 
everlasting ;  thou  hast  been  the  God  of  our  fathers,  and  our  prayer  is 
that  thou  wilt  be  the  God  of  our  children.  May  the  way  in  which 
thou  didst  lift  them  from  thralldom,  and  the  blessings  vouchsafed  unto 
them,  be  ever  a  source  of  thanks  and  praises  to  thee.  We  pray 
thee  that  thou  wilt  continue  thy  goodness ;  that  thou  wilt  maintain  in 
the  hearts  of  thy  children  regard  for  thy  truth,  deference  to  thine  au 
thority,  and  the  spirit  of  a  true  and  real  brotherly  love. 

O  Lord  Jesus,  the  Savior  whom  we  worship  and  adore,  whom  we 
hold  as  King  in  Zion,  let  thy  presence  be  with  us  and  help  us  to  walk 
as  becometh  disciples.  We  invoke  thy  blessings  and  pray  for  thy 
favor  in  this  Congress ;  direct  its  officers ;  bless  all  its  exercises.  Let 
the  issue  be  the  bringing  of  heart  to  heart,  the  tendering  and  expand 
ing  of  sympathy,  the  continuance  of  brotherly  love,  the  promotion  of 
Christian  education,  the  good  of  the  people  of  this  state  and  of  neigh 
boring  states.  God  Almighty,  bless  those  who  are  gathered  together 
in  this  city  at  this  time,  and  as  they  partake  of  the  hospitality  of  its 


MINUTES.  25 

people,  may  they  be  enabled  to  seek  what  will  be  for  the  good  of  the 
people,  for  the  welfare  of  the  state,  for  the  stability  of  the  nation. 
Bless  our  nation,  and  the  President  of  the  United  States;  bless  the 
governors  of  the  states  and  territories ;  bless  the  judges  of  the  land ; 
bless  and  guide  all  those  of  our  fellow  citizens  who  have  been  called 
to  places  of  trust;  give  them  skill,  wisdom,  unselfishness,  zeal,  and 
fidelity ;  and,  O  God,  establish  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  reverence 
to  their  law  and  their  constituted  authority.  Continue  thy  favor  to 
these  United  States,  and  let  the  whole  land  be  in  subjection  to  thee 
through  Christ  Jesus.  And,  our  Divine  Father,  we  come  to  thee  one 
by  one ;  we  beg  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  the  continuation  of  thy 
holy  spirit,  the  guidance  of  thy  providence,  and  an  entrance  finally 
into  thy  heavenly  kingdom  and  glory,  through  Jesus  Christ.  And  to 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Divine  Spirit,  the  God  of  our  salvation, 
be  glory  and  majesty,  dominion  and  power,  world  without  end. 
Amen. 

Opening  address,  by  Colonel  E.  C.  McDowell : 

The  migration  of  the  Scots,  it  is  believed,  was  through  North 
eastern  Europe,  by  way  of  Belgium  and  the  north  of  France,  to  Ire- 
laud.  .There  they  certainly  lived  in  the  third  century,  and  there  they 
first  received  the  light  of  Christianity. 

In  the  sixth  century,  a  colony  of  these  Irish-Scots  migrated  to 
Northern  Britain,  and  settling  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Argyle, 
established  a  kingdom,  subjugated  the  Pictish  tribes  that  were  before 
them,  and  ancient  Caledonia  was  thenceforward  the  land  of  the  Scots, 
and  Scotland  it  remains  to-day. 

When  James  the  First  came  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  for 
reasons  of  state,  he  determined  to  discountenance  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  in  Ireland.  Some  of  the  nobles  of  the  north  of  Ireland  re 
sented  this,  and  conspired  against  the  government.  Their  lands  were 
confiscated  and  reverted  to  the  crown.  James  peopled  these  confis 
cated  estates  with  Scotch  and  English  colonists.  The  Scotch  settlers 
greatly  predominated.  Thus,  after  a  lapse  of  one  thousand  years,  the 
Scots  whom  Ireland  had  given  to  Caledonia  of  old,  came  back  to  their 
ancient  homes,  aud  the  Irish-Scotch,  as  they  were  called  in  the  sixth 
century,  became  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

These  first  Scotch  colonists  were  soon  followed  by  other  Scots, 
until  the  descendants  of  these  Scots  are  largely  in  the  majority  in  the 
north  of  Ireland,  especially  in  the  province  of  Ulster.  The  Scotch- 
Irish  race  was  prolific  of  colonists  to  America.  Prior  to  1707,  they 


26  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

migrated  to  America  to  better  their  condition.  The  historical  events 
of  1707  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  immigration  of  Irish  Presby 
terians.  Then  they  began  to  see  that  an  Irishman  had  not  equal 
rights  with  other  British  subjects.  The  idea  of  equality  and  freedom 
which  afterward  took  form  of  expression  in  the  Mecklenburg  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  was  so  strong  in  them  that  they  could  not  re 
main  in  Ireland. 

These  emigrants  settled  principally  in  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
and  the  Carolinas.  Their  descendants  spread  into  Kentucky,  Tennes 
see,  and  tht,  whole  South-west.  Tennessee  was  selected  as  the  place 
for  holding  this  Congress  as  the  state  most  central  to  this  population 
in  the  United  States. 

This  race  of  people  was  of  a  different  origin,  and  had  many  race 
characteristics  differing  from  the  New  England  Puritans.  The  New 
England  Puritans  were  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin,  unmixed  with  the  Nor 
man.  The  New  England  Puritan  idea  is  to  get  the  greatest  aggregate 
good  in  the  community.  The  individual  and  the  family  are  subordin 
ate  to  the  community.  With  them,  the  state  is  the  people,  and  the 
people  belong  to  and  are  made  for  the  state.  With  the  Scotch-Irish, 
the  people  are  the  state,  and  the  state  is  made  by  and  for  the  people. 
Individualism  and  familyism  seem  to  be  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  philosophy  of  life.  They  hold  that  the  community  or 
state,  and  its  laws,  are  made  by  the  individuals  living  in  the  state  or 
community,  and  the  individuals  are  not  made  for,  or  to  be  governed 
for  the  good  of  the  state  or  community;  but  the  state  and  its  laws  are 
the  creation  of  the  individuals  for  their  benefit.  Having  to  live  in 
the  community,  they  claim  the  right  to  make  the  laws  of  the  com 
munity,  and  select  those  put  in  authority  to  enforce  these  laws.  They 
surrender  to  the  community  only  so  much  of  their  individual  freedom 
as  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection  of  their  property,  life,  and  lib 
erty,  while  living  in  the  community.  With  the  Puritans,  individual 
good  and  freedom  is  merged  in  and  lost  sight  of  in  the  good  of  the 
community. 

The  New  England  Puritans  have  in  a  large  part  written  the  his 
tory  of  the  United  States.  They  did  not  act  the  principal  history  of 
the  United  States.  Although  in  the  popular  histories  of  the  United 
States,  individuals  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  have  received  due  notice 
and  full  praise,  yet  the  influence  of  the  Scotch-Irish  as  a  people  in  ob 
taining  our  independence,  forming  our  institutions,  and  maintaining 
them,  has  never  been  properly  recognized  in  written  American  history. 

The  Scotch-Irish  are  a  peculiar  people  in  many  respects.  They 
have  always  been  doers,  rather  than  talkers  or  writers — holding  that 


MINUTES.  27 

there  are  only  two  things  worthy  of  mau's  ambition :  one  to  write 
what  is  worthy  of  being  done,  and  the  other  is  to  do  what  is  worthy 
of  being  written,  and  the  greater  of  these  two  is  the  doing.  Our 
Puritan  brethren  have  written  as  well  as  done.  It  is  time  we  were 
putting  on  the  pages  of  written  history  the  impress  of  our  race  on  the 
institutions  of  our  country. 

The  proceedings  of  this  congress  will  begin  the  written  history  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  race. 

It  was  expected  that  the  governor  of  Tennessee  would  be  present 
to  deliver  an  address  of  welcome.  A  special  session  of  the  state  legis 
lature  convened  yesterday,  rendering  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  pres 
ent  on  this  occasion.  In  his  place,  and  in  the  name  of  Tennessee,  I 
welcome  you  all.  On  behalf  of  the  large  Scotch-Irish  population  of 
this  county,  I  welcome  you.  In  the  name  of  Columbia,  I  bid  you 
thrice  welcome. 

For  the  purpose  of  organizing,  I  move  that  Joseph  F.  Johnston, 
of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  be  elected  temporary  chairman  of  the 
Congress. 

Motion  carried,  and  Colonel  Johnston  introduced  to  the  audience 
by  Colonel  McDowell. 

Colonel  Johnston's  address : 

I  can  not  be  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the  distinguished  honor 
of  presiding  temporarily  over  this  convention  has  not  been  conferred 
upon  me  on  account  of  any  personal  merit  of  ray  own,  especially  when  I 
look  around  me  and  see  so  many  gentlemen  distinguished  in  peace  and 
in  war,  in  the  paths  of  theology,  science,  literature,  and  art,  who  are 
present.  But  I  accept  this  great  honor  as  a  compliment  to  the  young 
men  of  the  South,  whose  humble  representative  I  am  on  this  occa 
sion — these  young  men  who,  not  forgetting  the  past,  not  putting  aside 
the  ancient  landmarks,  are  now  engaged  in  erecting  upon  the  founda 
tion  of  the  tradition  and  memories  of  their  fathers  a  civilization  and 
an  empire  that  will  be  the  pride  and  the  glory  of  all  who  come  after 
us  in  all  this  great  and  magnificent  land  of  ours. 

I  take  it,  my  fellow-citizens,  as  an  auspicious  circumstance  that 
the  first  Congress  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  United  States  is  assembled 
here  in  this  beautiful  city  "  in  this  most  lovely  land"  rescued  by  our 
fatluTs  from  savage  beast  and  more  savage  man,  and  made  one  of  the 
garden-spots  of  Civilization,  of  virtue  and  refinement,  of  all  the 
country  ;  and  I  congratulate  you,  my  brethren  of  the  Scotch-Irish 


28  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

race,  wherever  you  come  from,  that  upon  this  occasion,  and  in  this 
presence,  should  any  one  inquire  where  are  the  jewels  of  the  race,  we 
can  point  to  the  fair  women,  whose  virtues  are  only  equalled  by  their 
beauty,  and  say,  these  are  our  jewels.  (Applause.) 

If  there  is  any  one  characteristic  that  I  think  distinguishes  more 
clearly  than  any  other  the  Scotch-Irish  race,  it  is  their  disregard  of  odds 
of  power  and  influence  in  the  pursuit  of  liberty  and  of  right.  It  was 
this  sentiment  that  led  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Charlotte,  in  the  county 
of  Mecklenburg,  N.  C.,  in  this  month,  in  the  year  1775,  regardless 
of  whether  their  brethren  would  join  them  in  the  cause,  to  declare 
that  they  "were  of  right,  and  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
people." 

It  is  a  fact,  in  regard  to  the  Scotch-Irish  race  of  the  South,  that, 
while  many  of  them  believed  in  the  inherent  right  of  secession,  few 
believed  in  the  exercise  of  that  right.  They  were  greatly  attached  to 
the  Union  which  their  fathers  had  liberally  contributed  to  establish  and 
develop  by  their  blood  and  treasure.  They  wanted  to  see  it  yet  more 
powerful  and  great,  and  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  North  Caro 
lina,  where  they  were  most  formidable  in  numbers  and  influence,  they 
were  largely  instrumental  in  delaying  hasty  action.  But  when  the 
issue  was  joined,  when  "wild  war's  loud  alarm  had  sounded,"  when 
the  gods  of  war  had  loosed  their  fiercest  dogs,  they  united  with  their 
brethren  in  the  unequal  struggle.  They  believed  it  to  be  an  unequal 
struggle ;  they  doubted  the  policy  and  the  result ;  but  when  it  came 
for  men  to  suffer  and  bleed  and  die,  they  answered  every  roll-call.  It 
was  supposed  that,  when  this  great  contest  was  inaugurated,  the  cava 
liers  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  would  lead  all  the  rest,  and  right 
nobly  did  they  discharge  their  duties.  Their  sons  have  a  proud  herit 
age,  and  history  has  to  some  extent  given  them  this  prominence. 
But  recently,  a  distinguished  soldier  of  the  Federal  army,  Colonel 
Wm.  F.  Fox,  of  New  York,  has  published,  in  a  remarkable  book, 
statistics  showing  the  results  of  the  war;  and  I  propose  to  cite  a  few 
facts  from  that  book.  The  fighting  population  of  North  Carolina  in 
1861  was  115,000,  yet  she  furnished  to  the  Confederate  army  125,000 
men.  North  Carolina  led  all  the  southern  states  in  the  number  of 
men  that  died  in  this  great  struggle.  There  were  killed  of  her  sons 
on  the  field  of  battle  fourteen  thousand,  five  hundred  and  twenty-two 
men  (14,522).  The  number  of  her  sons  that  died  from  wounds  in 
flicted  on  the  field  of  battle  was  20,602,  while  the  great  commonwealth 
of  Virginia  lost  a  little  over  12,000  in  killed  and  died  of  wounds — 
about  one-third.  South  Carolina  had  9,187  men t killed.  On  the 
other  side,  the  great  state  of  Pennsylvania  led  all  her  sisters  in  the 


MINUTES.  29 

splendor  of  her  achievements,  and  she  suffered  the  greatest  loss  of  any 
northern  state  in  the  great  battles  between  giants. 

The  greatest  loss  suffered  by  any  one  regiment  during  the  war  was 
inflicted  upon  the  Twenty-sixth  North  Carolina  at  Gettysburg,  which 
went  into  battle  800  strong,  and  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  on  the 
field  over  580  men ;  and  this  great  loss  was  sustained  in  fighting  the 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-first  Pennsylvania  and  Cooper's  Battery. 
The  Light  Brigade  at  Balaklava  lost  31£  per  cent  of  its  men  and  offi 
cers,  and  they  were  immortalized  in  prose  and  poetry.  The  Twenty- 
sixth  North  Carolina  at  Gettysburg  lost  over  70  per  cent  of  its  men 
and  officers,  and  was  scarcely  distinguished  from  the  regiments  that 
surrounded  it. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  the  war  with  any  desire  to  recall  any  thing 
that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  can  not  recall  with  pride  and 
pleasure,  no  matter  where  he  hails  from,  because  I  take  it  that  the 
prowess,  the  courage,  and  the  heroic  valor  of  any  soldier,  whether  he 
hails  from  Maine  or  Alabama,  is  the  proud  heritage  of  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States.  (Applause.)  But  I  state  these  astounding  sta 
tistics  to  show  you  that,  in  the  great  contest  between  the  states,  the 
two  most  largely  populated  by  the  Scotch-Irish  race  were  the  two  that 
led  all  the  rest  in  the  splendor  of  their  achievements  (Applause)  ;  and 
that  the  greatest  losses  were  inflicted  when  the  iron  soldiers  of  North 
Carolina  and  Pennsylvania,  descendants  of  the  same  race  and  stock, 
met  on  the  field  of  battle  and  locked  arms  in  the  embrace  of  death. 
It  was  the  dogged  obstinacy,  the  tenacity,  the  unconquerable  will  of 
the  Scotch-Irish,  that  deluged  these  fields  with  blood  and  immortalized 
Pennsylvania  and  North  Carolina. 

I  am  here  in  response  to  your  selection,  to  return  to  you  my 
thanks  for  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon  the  young  men  of  the 
South,  and  to  discharge  the  duties  you  have  assigned  me;  and  I  an 
nounce  that  this  convention  is  now  ready  for  further  proceedings. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Floyd,  of  Columbia,  was  unanimously  elected  tempo 
rary  Secretary  of  the  Congress. 

A  motion  by  Colonel  E.  C.  McDowell,  that  a  committee  on  per 
manent  organization,  and  one  on  constitution  and  by-laws,  be  appointed, 
was  carried. 

Mrs.  Robert  D.  Smith  recited  a  poem  on  "  The  Harp  of  Tom 
Moore,"  written  for  the  occasion  by  the  poet,  Wallace  Bruce,  of  New 
York.  The  harp  had  been  kindly  loaned  the  Congress  by  Mr.  Geo. 


30  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

W.  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  and  during  all  the  exercises  occupied  a 
pedestal  upon  the  platform. 

(See  Part  II,  page  71.) 

A  song,  "  Here's  to  Thee,  Tom  Moore,"  was  sung  by  the  young 
ladies  of  the  Athenaeum  School,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Emma  McKin- 
ney  on  the  harp  and  Hal  Seavy  on  the  violin. 

The  following  resolution  was  introduced  by  E.  C.  McDowell,  and 
unanimously  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  United 
States  are  due  and  are  hereby  tendered  Hon.  T.  T.  Wright,  for  orig 
inating  this  gathering  and  contributing  to  the  successful  organization 
of  this  convention. 

Chairman  Johnston : 

It  is  my  pleasing  duty,  in  obedience  to  the  resolution  just  adopted, 
to  extend  the  hearty  thanks  of  the  convention  to  the  Hon.  T.  T. 
Wright,  whose  merit  is  only  equalled  by  his  modesty.  It  is  said  that 
Ney  fought  a  hundred  battles  for  France  and  not  one  against  her;  the 
Hon.  T.  T.  Wright  has  fought  a  hundred  battles  for  the  prosperity 
and  advancement  of  his  country,  and  not  one  for  himself.  A  great 
man  once  stated  that  it  was  better  to  be  right  than  President.  Had 
our  friend  lived  in  that  day,  we  would  know  that  he  was  the  Wright 
referred  to. 

The  first  speaker  of  the  day  was  Hon.  Proctor  Knott,  of  Ken 
tucky,  who  was  introduced  by  the  Chairman  as  follows : 

I  announce  and  introduce  a  gentleman  who  is  known  from  Penn 
sylvania  avenue  to  Duluth.  His  fame  has  extended  beyond  the  con 
fines  of  this  country  as  one  of  the  proudest  sons  of  this  great  race, 
whose  deeds  we  are  met  here  to  commemorate  upon  this  occasion — a 
gentleman  whose  fame  has  not  only  placed  him  in  the  front  ranks  of 
Americans  of  this  century,  but  whose  name,  when  conferred  upon  a 
horse,  makes  the  latter  worth  $30.000.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  intro 
ducing  to  you  the  Hon.  Proctor  Knott,  of  Kentucky. 

(See  Part  II,  page  73.) 


MINUTES.  31 

Chairman  Johnston  read  the  following  telegram  from  Hon.  Sen 
ator  John  MacDonald,  of  Canada  : 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  May  8th. 
HON.  THOS.  T.  WRIGHT, 

COLUMBIA,  TENN. 

Kindly  accept  congratulations  and  assurances  of 
abiding  friendship  and  good  will  on  the  part  of  Canadians  for  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  your  great  nation. 

JOHN  MACDONALD. 

The  Congress  adjurned  to  7:30  o'clock  p.  M. 


NIGHT  SESSION. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  8  o'clock. 
The  Chairman  announced  the  following  committees : 

On  Permanent  Organization — E.  C.  MacDowell,  Tennessee ;  Dr. 
John  Hall,  New  York;  T.  T.  Wright,  Florida;  Judge  J.  M.  Scott, 
Illinois ;  Lucius  Frierson,  Tennessee. 

On  Constitution  and  By-Laws — Proctor  Knott,  Kentucky ;  Robert 
Bonner,  New  York ;  W.  O.  MacDowell,  New  Jersey ;  A.  C.  Floyd, 
Tennessee ;  A.  S.  Colyar,  Tennessee. 

The  Chairman  then  announced  that  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson  Phraner 
was  requested  to  favor  the  Congress  with  an  address. 

Dr.  Phraner's  address : 

I  think  this  is  unfair.  I  was  asked  if,  some  time  during  the 
meeting,  I  would  say  a  word,  and  1  consented  to  do  so ;  but  I  had  no 
idea  that  I  would  be  called  upon  at  this  moment.  Hence,  I  am  con 
fused,  and  hardly  kuow  whether  I  am  here  or  not. 

I  am  neither  an  Englishman  nor  an  Irishman  ;  only  a  plain 
American  citizen.  You  see  at  once  I  have  not  the  brogue.  I  find 
the  Scotch  and  the  Irish  so  much  at  a  premium,  that  I  hardly  know 
whether  I  can  take  my  place  among  them  or  not.  I  am  reminded  of 
a  little  story  that  I  may  tell  in  this  connection.  It  was  of  three  Irish 
men  in  London.  One  of  them  remarked :  "  What  a  strange  thing 


32  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

occurred  to  me  the  other  morning.  In  Hyde  Park,  a  gentleman 
came  up  to  me  and  addressed  me  as  Gladstone."  "Oh,"  said  another 
of  the  three,  "  that  was  certainly  a  compliment;  but  I  have  something 
a  little  better  than  that.  I  was  the  other  day  walking  through  one 
of  the  streets  of  London,  and  a  gentleman  addressed  me  as  Lord 
Salisbury,  the  Premier."  The  third  one  said  :  "  That  is  surprising,  but 
I  can  beat  that.  I  was  passing  through  the  Strand,  and  a  fellow  ran 
up  to  me  and  said,  'Holy  Moses,  is  that  you?'" 

In  my  opinion,  Moses  outranks  both  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr. 
Salisbury.  I  am,  however,  not  likely  to  be  taken  for  either  of  the 
three ;  but  I  have  come  down  here  at  the  kind  invitation  of  Dr.  Hall  ; 
and  now  I  am  glad  to  see  this  assemblage  of  Scotch-Irishmen.  We 
are  glad  that  you  are  here  in  this  country  to  help  do  something  that 
needs  to  be  done. 

One  of  the  objects  to  be  accomplished  is  to  unify  this  nation.  We 
have  a  great  many  elements  entering  into  our  national  life,  and  we  all 
know  the  consequences  when  a  man  takes  in  more  food  than  he  can 
digest.  But  this  country  never  has  any  trouble  in  digesting  Scotch- 
Irishmen  and  true  Scotchmen.  They  agree  with  us  perfectly.  There 
are  some  others  not  so  easily  digested  and  disposed  of;  but  these  are 
at  home  here,  and  we  rejoice  that  they  are  here  to  help  in  unifying 
this  nation,  which  is  one  of  the  great  problems  before  us. 

There  is  a  second  thing  to  be  done :  to  educate  this  nation.  The 
Scotchmen  come  here  as  educators.  You  will  hear  from  one  of  them 
to-night.  The  Scotch-Irishmen  come  ofttimes  in  the  same  way  as  did 
Dr.  McCosh,  of  Princeton.  When  we  want  a  president  for  one  of  our 
leading  colleges,  we  send  to  Belfast  for  him.  Through  the  country 
they  are  known  as  educators,  and  there  is  a  great  work  to  be  done  iu 
elevating  and  uplifting  the  nation  through  genuine  education  of  the 
people. 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  another  matter.  There  may  be 
some  poor  relations  of  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  that  would  very 
properly  receive  a  little  attention.  They  are  not  to  be  overlooked. 
Some  of  them  I  have  heard  of  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  North 
Carolina.  There  are  some  who  might  be  helped  in  that  direction,  and 
I  hope  one  of  the  things  to  come  out  of  this  organization  will  be  to 
look  possibly  after  some  of  our  poor  relations. 

I  will  say  one  other  thing.  The  value  of  this  element  that  comes 
into  our  national  life  from  Scotland  is  that  they  have  brought  Chris 
tianity  with  them  in  their  hearts.  What  makes  them  so  welcome  to 
my  mind  is,  that  they  have  brought  Presbyterianism  with  them  to  this 
land.  We  can  stand  all  that ;  the  more  of  it  the  better.  Look  at 


MINUTES. 

the  condition  of  things  in  New  York.  A  leading  man  in  our  pulpit  is 
a  Scotch-Irishman.  When  one  of  the  oldest  churches,  and  the  one  in 
which  I  was  brought  up,  wanted  a  minister,  it  sent  to  Dublin  for  him. 
We  have  him  here  to-night — one  of  the  biggest  men  iu  the  land.  You 
have  heard  a  good  many  things  said  in  these  recent  times  about  long 
haul  and  short  haul,  but  one  of  the  biggest  hauls  the  Presbyterian 
Church  ever  made  was  when  it  got  John  Hall.  (Laughter  and  ap 
plause.) 

A  very  important  church  in  Philadelphia  became  vacant,  and 
nothing  would  do  but  they  must  have  a  Macintosh,  and  they  sent  to 
Belfast  for  him.  So  it  is,  all  over  the  country ;  and  we  need  this 
help  to  unify,  to  educate,  and  to  evangelize  this  nation. 

Alexander  De  Tocqueville  never  made  a  wiser  remark  than 
when  he  said  a  nation  never  so  needs  to  be  theocratic  as  when  it  be 
comes  democratic. 

A  few  minutes  ago,  I  had  no  idea  of  making  a  speech.  I  am  in 
sympathy  with  this  meeting,  though  I  can  not  claim  to  be  either  an 
Irishman  or  Scotchman,  but  only  a  simple,  plain  American  citizen, 
speaking  the  English  language.  (Applause.) 

Chairman  Johnston: 

I  think  the  audience  will  agree  with  me,  that  the  Chair  has 
shown  great  discrimination  in  calling  on  Mr.  Phrauer  "  unbeknownst" 
to  him;  because,  if  he  had  been  given  an  opportunity  to  prepare  a 
speech  this  evening,  he  would  have  left  few  good  things  for  the  dis 
tinguished  gentleman  who  is  to  follow  him. 

I  am  now  going  to  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  this  country,  a  citizen  of  New  York, 
who  has  kindly  consented  to  say  a  few  words  to  you — Mr.  Robert 
Bonner.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Bonner: 

I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  addressing  the  public  or  of  making  pub 
lic  speeches.  Any  little  reputation  that  I  may  have  acquired  has  been 
achieved  by  the  pen.  But  I  will  say  a  few  words. 

I  have  very  pleasant  recollections  of  a  former  visit  to  Columbia. 
On  that  occasion,  when  our  party  left  New  York,  I  was  known  simply 
as  Robert  Bonner,  without  any  title  or  handle  to  my  name ;  but  in 
passing  through  Pennsylvania,  I  was  saluted  by  one  of  the  railway 
officials  as  Captain  Bonner;  further  on,  when  we  crossed  over  the 
3 


34  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

Ohio  river  into  Kentucky,  I  was  called  by  the  title  of  Colonel ;  and 
when  I  reached  this  place,  I  was  addressed  by  one  of  your  prominent 
citizens  as  General.  Do  you  wonder  that,  after  such  rapid  promotion, 
I  have  pleasant  recollections  of  that  visit? 

When  you  take  half  a  century  out  of  the  middle  of  a  man's  life, 
you  make  a  pretty  big  gap  in  it.  It  was  just  fifty  years  ago,  the  sec 
ond  of  this  month,  that  I  sailed  from  Londonderry,  Ireland,  for  New 
York.  I  came  from  the  old  town  of  Ramelton,  in  the  county  of 
Donegal.  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  report  of  an  address  delivered  by 
the  Rev.  Matthew  Wilson,  in  March,  1839,  in  the  Second  Presby 
terian  church  of  that  town,  an  extract  from  which  I  shall  read,  and 
which,  I  think,  will  be  of  some  historical  interest  on  such  an  occasion 
as  this.  The  manuscript,  as  you  can  see,  is  somewhat  faded,  but  that 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  as  it  is  over  fifty  years  since  I  copied  the  ad 
dress  from  the  Londonderry  Standard.  Mr.  Wilson,  after  stating  that 
there  were  spirit-stirring  recollections  connected  with  Ramelton,  said  : 

"But  it  is  far  more  agreeable  to  listen  to  the  artless  tale  of  a 
rustic  Presbyterian,  as  he  tells  of  the  treasure  of  truth  and  of  salva 
tion  which  a  Presbyterian  minister  from  Ramelton  carried  across  the 
Atlantic  and  planted  in  a  foreign  soil — small  in  the  beginning  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  but  since  it  has  leavened  all  the  land.  Yes,  sir, 
it  was  a  Makemie,  himself  a  treasure,  but  bearing  with  him  the  far 
more  excellent  treasure,  even  the  incorruptible  riches  of  Christ,  who, 
in  company  with  a  few  expatriated  ministers  from  the  Synod  of  Ulster, 
formed  the  first  Presbytery,  raised  the  first  Presbyterian  standard,  and 
planted  the  germ  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  America — a  church 
which  has  been  blessed  with  extraordinary  increase,  and  can  now 
boast  of  nearly  three  thousand  congregations." 

In  the  printed  slip  which  your  Secretary  kindly  sent  me  a  few 
weeks  ago,  it  was  stated  that  one  of  the  attractions  here  would  be  an 
exhibition  of  Tennessee's  fine  blooded  stock.  Clergymen  often  tell  us 
that  we  can  not  reason  from  the  finite  to  the  infinite  ;  but  I  think  we 
can  get  a  lesson  from  the  lower  animals  that  will  lead  us  up  to  a  true 
appreciation  of  the  Scotch-Irish.  It  is  well  known  that  a  change  of 
clime  has  great  influence  in  improving  the  speed  and  endurance  of 
horses.  For  example,  from  stock  sent  from  New  York  to  Kentucky, 
the  swiftest  trotting  horse  that  the  world  has  yet  seen  was  raised  in 
the  famous  blue  grass  region.  Now,  I  think  it  can  be  shown  by  a 
single  illustration  that,  when  the  Scotch  went  over  to  Ireland,  a  sim 
ilar  improvement  in  the  stamina  and  endurance  of  the  race  took  place. 

Sixty  years  ago,  the  Rev.  Dr.  McCartee  was  the  most  popular 
Presbyterian  clergyman  in  New  York  City.  The  old  gentleman  once 


MINUTES.  35 

told  me  that,  in  his  younger  days,  he  had  two  prominent  members  of 
his  church  who  were  not  on  speaking  terms.  One  was  Scotch  and  the 
other  Scotch-Irish.  They  had  quarreled  about  some  trivial  matter, 
and  the  feeling  became  very  bitter.  The  Doctor  labored  for  a  long 
time  to  recoucile  them,  but  neither  could  be  moved.  At  last,  after  a 
serious  talk,  the  Scotchman  consented  to  meet  his  Scotch-Irish  fellow- 
member  in  a  friendly  way,  and  let  by-goues  be  by-gones.  The  doctor 
then  went  to  the  Scotch-Irishman,  but  he  was  as  firm  as  ever ;  he  did 
not  want  to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  "that  man."  Finally,  the 
doctor  bore  down  on  him  pretty  hard,  urging  upon  him  his  duty  as  a 
Christian,  and  asking  him:  "How  can  yon  expect  to  be  forgiven,  if 
you  will  not  forgive?"  when  the  Scotch-Irishman,  with  great  emotiou, 
while  trying  to  conquer  his  feelings,  exclaimed:  "Yes,  yes;  I'll  for 
give  him,  but  I  want  to  get  one  good  crack  at  him  first."  (Laughter.) 
Gentlemen,  this  is  the  reason  why  I  think  a  change  of  clime  has  in 
creased  the  stamina  and  endurance  of  the  race  to  which  I  belong. 
(Applause  and  laughter.) 

Chairman  Johnston  then  introduced  Prof.  McCloskie,  of  Prince 
ton,  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  educators  of  this  country. 

(See  Part  II,  page  90.) 

After  the   conclusion   of  Prof.  McCloskie's  address,   Chairman 

Johnston  read  the  following  telegram  : 

• 

CARLISLE,  PENN.,  May  8,  1889. 
A.  C.  FLOYD, 

Scotch-Irish  Congress. 

Accept  congratulations  and  best  wishes. 

J.  A.  MURRAY. 

The  Secretary  then  submitted  to  the  Congress  the  following  : 

HISTORICAL   CONTRIBUTIONS. 

T.  R.  Kornick,  Sr.,  Knoxville,  Teun.:  "The  Scotch-Irish  in  the 
United  States.  Some  of  their  Characteristics,  and  an  Approximate 
Estimate  of  their  Number  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies.  September, 
1774." 

Hon.  W.  S.  Fleming,  Columbia,  Tennessee :  "  Scotch-Irish 
Settlers  in  South  Carolina,  and  their  Descendants  in  Maury  County, 
Tennessee." 


36  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

Mr.  Geo.  Edwards,  Worcester,  Mass.:  "  The  Early  Scotch-Irish 
Settlers  in  New  England." 

Samuel  Evans,  Columbia,  Penn.:  "  The  Scotch-Irish  of  Donegal, 
Penn.,  with  Interesting  Historical  Relics." 

Miss  Sara  A.  Leitch,  Pittsburg,  Penn.:  "  The  Sharon  Tragedy ; 
An  Incident  of  the  Irish  Rebellion  in  1798." 

Mr.  Alex.  H.  H.  Stewart,  Staunton,  Va.:  "The  Descendants 
of  Archibald  Stewart,  of  Virginia." 

Rev.  A.  W.  Miller,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Charlotte,  N.  C.:  A  pamphlet, 
"The  Presbyterian  Origin  of  American  Independence." 

Rev.  J.  G.  Craighead,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Howard  University,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.:  "  Scotch  and  Irish  Seeds  on  American  Soil."  A 
bound  volume. 

The  Congress  then  adjourned  until  11  o'clock,  Thursday  morning. 

Thursday,  May  9th. 
MORNING  SESSION. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  11  o'clock. 

The  Goshen  Band  played  a  musical  selection,  entitled  "  Robert 
Bruce  Melodies." 

Rev.  Geo.  Beckett,  of  the  Columbia  Institute,  made  the  opening 
prayer. 

Chairman  Johnston: 

Before  announcing  the  regular  proceedings  as  arranged  for  to-day, 
I  wish  to  say,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  here,  that  this  gathering  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  United  States  is  a  gathering  without  reference 
to  creed  or  politics  or  sect  of  any  kind.  This  gathering  is  greater  than 
any  thing  of  that  kind.  (Applause.)  Whilst,  as  we  all  know,  the 
great  majority  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  this  country  are  Presbyterians, 
no  man  is  excluded  from  this  association,  whether  he  be  Catholic,  or 
Presbyterian,  or  of  any  other  denomination.  It  is  as  broad  as  our 
great  country  is.  (Applause.)  And,  in  fact,  our  distinguished 
friend,  Bishop  McCloskie,  of  New  Jersey — he  ought  to  be  a  bishop, 
if  he  is  not — has  told  us  that  St.  Patrick  was  the  first  Bishop  of  the 


MINUTES.  37 

Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Emperor  of  China  a  ruling  elder. 
There  never  was  a  better  church,  though  I  don't  have  the  happiness 
to  be  a  member  of  it  myself.  But  I  wanted  to  caution  our  friends 
here  to  dismiss  the  idea  that  there  is  any  thing  local  or  sectarian  or 
political  about  this  great  gathering  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall,  of  New  York,  was  introduced,  and  deliv 
ered  an  address.  (See  Part  II,  p.  102.) 

Dr.  Hall's  address  was  followed  by  a  song  from  the  young  ladies 
of  the  Athenaeum. 

Hon.  Proctor  Knott,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Constitution 
and  By-Laws,  submitted  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted  : 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article  I.  The  name  of  this  association  shall  be  The  Scotch- 
Irish  Society  of  America. 

Art.  II.  The  purposes  of  this  society  are  the  preservation  of 
Scotch-Irish  history,  the  keeping  alive  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the  race, 
and  the  promotion  of  social  intercourse  and  fraternal  feeling  among  its 
members,  now  and  hereafter. 

Art.  III.  Any  male  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  who 
has  Scotch-Irish  blood  in  his  veins,  shall  be  eligible  for  membership  in 
the  association. 

Art.  IV.  The  officers  of  the  society  shall  be  a  President,  two 
Vice-Presidents  at  Large,  a  Vice-President  in  each  state,  territory, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  United  States,  and  each  of  the 
provinces  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada ;  a  Secretary,  Treasurer,  Regis 
trar  and  Historian. 

Art.  V.  There  shall  be  an  Executive  Council,  composed  of  the 
President,  Vice-Presidents,  and  other  officers  mentioned  in  the  last 
foregoing  article. 

Art.  VI.  The  annual  convention  of  the  society  shall  be  held  at 
such  time  and  place  in  May  as  may  be  determined  by  the  Executive 
Committee. 

Art.  VII.  The  officers  of  the  society  shall  be  elected  at  the  con 
ventions  by  ballot;  provided,  however,  that  Vice-Presidents  not 
elected  at  the  present  meeting  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President. 

Art.  VIII.  This  constitution  may  be  altered,  amended,  or  re 
pealed  only  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  members  of  the  association 

449000 


38  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMEKICA. 

present  at  the  annual  convention,  or  at  a  special  meeting  called  foi 
that  purpose  after  thirty  days'  notice  in  writing  to  the  members. 

Art.  IX.  The  Executive  Council  shall  have  authority  to  estab 
lish  by-laws,  rules,  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  society. 

Colonel  E.  C.  McDowell,  Chairman,  offered  the  following  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Organization,  which  was  unanimously  adopted : 

For  Permanent  President — Robert  Bonner,  of  New  York. 

Secretary — A.  C.  Floyd,  of  Tennessee. 

Vice-Presidents  at  Large — J.  F.  Johnston,  of  Alabama ;  E.  C. 
McDowell,  of  Tennessee ;  and  Thomas  Kerr,  of  Toronto,  Canada. 

Vice-Presidents  for  States — Kentucky,  Dr.  Hervey  McDowell ; 
New  York,  Dr.  John  Hall;  Illinois,  Judge  J.  M.  Scott;  North  Caro 
lina,  S.  B.  Alexander;  Pennsylvania,  A.  K.  McClure;  New  Jersey, 
Wm.  O.  McDowell ;  Louisiana,  Wm.  Preston  Johnston ;  Florida,  T. 
T.  Wright;  Virginia,  Wm.  Wirt  Henry;  Tennessee,  A.  G.  Adams; 
Montana,  Rev.  J.  C.  Quinn,  Helena-;  Andrew  T.  Wood,  Hamilton, 
Ontario. 

Treasurer — Lucius  Frierson,  of  Tennessee. 

Historian  and  Registrar — Thos.  M.  Green,  of  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Johnston  stated  that  he  would  turn  over  the  position  of 
Chairman  to  Mr.  Bonner,  who  was  introduced,  and  said: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — This  is  an  unexpected  honor.  I  think 
there  are  much  abler  and  better  qualified  men  here  that  you  could 
have  selected  for  this  position.  But  I  accept  the  office  with  thanks, 
and  shall  endeavor  to  fill  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

This  afternoon,  our  party  is  obliged  to  leave  for  New  York,  and, 
as  Colonel  Johnston  has  presided  so  ably,  I  shall  request  him  to  con 
tinue  to  keep  the  chair  during  this  meeting. 

Mr.  Johnston  said  he  would  not  disobey  the  orders  of  a  superior 
officer,  and  read  from  the  poem  recited  the  preceding  day  the  fol 
lowing  : 

"  Manhattan  and  Plymouth  and  Jamestown 

Can  boast  of  their  heritage  true, 
But  Mecklenburg's  fame  is  immortal 

When  we  number  the  stars  in  the  blue 
The  Scotch-Irish-Puritan  fathers 

First  drafted  the  words  of  the  free, 
And  the  speech  of  Virginia's  Henry 
Is  the  crown  of  our  liberty's  plea." 


MINUTES.  39 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the  grandson  of 
this  illustrious  hero,  Hon.  Wm.  Wirt  Henry,  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Henry  was  greeted  with  great  applause.    He  spoke  as  follows : 
(See  Part  II,  p.  110.) 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Henry's  address,  Mr.  Johnston  ad 
journed  the  meeting  to  8  o'clock,  as  follows: 

There  was  an  old  Englishman  whose  name  was  Johnson — the 
only  place  he  did  not  take  his  tea  was  in  his  name — and  he  said  to  a 
Scotchman,  that  the  Scotch  fed  their  men  on  what  the  English  fed 
their  horses ;  and  the  Scotchman  replied,  that  that  was  the  reason  the 
English  had  the  best  horses,  and  the  Scotch  the  best  men  in  the  world. 
It  is  about  time  to  feed  the  convention  on  a  little  oat-meal  porridge, 
and  a  motion  to  adjourn  is  in  order. 


NIGHT  SESSION. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  8  o'clock  by  Chairman  John 
ston,  who  introduced  the  first  speaker,  as  follows : 

We  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  a  few  remarks  from  a 
Scotch-Irishman  of  Illinois;  a  gentleman  who  has  attained  the  highest 
rank  in  that  state  as  a  judge,  having  been  several  years  on  the  Supreme 
Bench  of  Illinois ;  a  gentleman  who  has  endeared  himself  to  those 
who  have  met  him  since  he  has  been  among  us— Judge  J.  M.  Scott. 

Judge  Scott  said : 

I  come  to  visit  you  in  this  beautiful  little  city  by  the  kind  invita 
tion  of  the  committee  having  this  Congress  in  charge.  I  come  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  with  those  whom  I  know,  and  those  whose  ances 
tors  have  added  much  to  the  civilization  of  our  country.  I  come  to 
you  from  one  of  the  great  states  carved  out  of  the  North-west  Terri 
tory,  the  State  of  Illinois.  Although  one  of  the  younger  states  of  the 
North-west  Territory,  it  is  now  a  great  commonwealth,  of  which  her 
sons  are  justly  proud.  The  Illinois  country  itself  has  a  history  that  is 
more  than  two  centuries  old.  It  was  the  seat  of  French  dominion  in 


40  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  where  it  was  the  purpose  of  France  to 
establish  a  government  to  control  the  richest  portions  of  this  country. 
Kaskaskia,  which  was  then  founded,  and  which  is  a  most  beautiful 
village,  is  nearly  as  old  as  Philadelphia.  But  the  civilization  the 
French  attempted  to  establish  in  the  Mississippi  valley  and  elsewhere 
on  this  continent  was  not  suited  to  this  country,  and  was  destined  to 
have  a  brief  but  brilliant  existence.  After  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in 
1763,  the  North-west  Territory  came  under  the  control  of  the  English 
government,  and  remained  there  until  1778,  when  that  bold,  daring, 
and  chivalrous  band  of  men  under  George  Rogers  Clarke,  organized 
and  commissioned  by  the  illustrious  Patrick  Henry,  as  governor  of 
Virginia,  conquered  it,  and  held  it  as  the  rightful  possession  of  that 
great  commonwealth.  In  that  little  band  of  fearless  and  determined 
men,  there  were  included  a  number  of  Scotch-Irishmen.  Every 
where  any  thing  great  was  to  be  done,  there  was  to  be  found  Scotch- 
Irishmen,  or  some  of  their  American  descendants.  I  do  not  know 
that  there  ever  was  a  large  percentage  of  Scotch-Irishmen  in  Illinois 
as  a  state,  but  during  the  time  of  its  territorial  existence  there  was. 
They  came  mostly  from  Western  Virginia  with  the  earliest  colonists. 
No  people  of  any  race  have  left  more  of  the  impress  of  their  character 
upon  the  institutions  of  Illinois,  both  religious  and  civil,  than  did  that 
indomitable  race  of  men  and  women.  They  taught  there  the  first 
schools.  They  aided  in  establishing  law  and  order,  and  they  were 
among  the  first  judges  to  administer  the  law  they  had  ordained.  In 
fact,  the  history  of  Illinois,  in  that  respect,  is  the  same  as  that  of 
Virginia,  of  Tennessee,  of  the  Carolinas,  and  of  all  the  southern 
states,  except,  perhaps,  Louisiana. 

It  would. not  be  proper,  were  I  prepared  to  do  so,  to  speak  of  the 
general  history  of  the  people  designated  as  the  Scotch-Irish.  That 
has  been  done,  and  well  done,  by  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who 
have  prepared  papers  and  submitted  them  upon  this  occasion.  But 
there  are  some  things  that  we  all  know  concerning  them.  We  all 
know,  as  we  heard  from  Dr.  Hall  this  morning,  that  these  Scotch-Irish 
were  a  frugal  and  industrious  people.  It  may  be,  as  was  stated  by  the 
distinguished  orator,  that  they  think  a  dollar  five  times  as  large  as  it 
is ;  but  when  a  Scotch-Irishman  got  a  dollar,  it  was  the  wages  of  so 
much  honest  labor,  or  something  given  of  equal  value  in  exchange. 
(Applause.)  He  had  earned  it  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  as  it 
was  wholly  his  own,  he  could  regard  it,  if  he  chose,  as  large  as  a  mill 
stone.  I  venture  to  say,  here  to-night,  that  there  are  fewer  Scotch- 
Irish  in  the  charitable  institutions  of  this  country  than  any  other  race 
or  people  that  dwell  among  us.  I  never  knew  myself  of  a  Scotch- 


MINUTES.  41 

Irishman  who  was  the  inmate  of  a  county  poor-house.  I  venture 
another  remark,  and  that  is,  that  there  are  more  of  this  race  in  high 
places,  legislative,  executive,  judicial,  ecclesiastical,  and  educational, 
than  of  any  other  race  iu  our  country.  They  have  taught  the  sciences 
and  literature  in  our  common  schools,  in  our  colleges  and  universities. 
They  have  preached  our  religion  ;  they  have  fought  our  battles;  they 
have  commanded  our  armies;  they  have  written  our  literature,  both 
in  poetry  and  iu  prose ;  they  have  led  public  thought  in  the  direction 
of  liberty,  right,  and  justice;  and  they  have  impressed  our  habits  and 
customs  and  manners  in  our  home  life,  as  well  as  in  public.  They 
have  administered  and  declared  our  laws.  It  can  be  truthfully  said, 
that  our  common  country  is  freer,  stronger,  better,  and  more  enduring 
because  of  the  Scotch-Irish  element  in  our  people. 

My  friend?,  I  have  said  all  that  I  intended  to  say  on  this  occasion  ; 
but  I  beg  to  be  indulged  in  one  single  remark  further,  and  that  is,  that 
if  all  the  Scotch-Irish  in  our  country  are  as  hospitable  as  those  found 
in  Columbia,  they  are  the  most  hospitable  people  found  on  the  face  of 
this  round  earth.  (Applause.)  One  remark  more :  If  the  Scotch- 
Irish  women  are  all  like  those  of  Columbia,  they  are  the  peers  in 
beauty  and  loveliness  of  the  best  women  of  our  country,  and,  in  all 
that  is  true  and  good  and  pure,  are  excelled  by  no  women  on  the  face 
of  this  earth,  of  any  race  or  nationality.  (Applause.,) 

Miss  Stoddard,  of  the  Athenaeum,  sang  "  Kathleen  Mavourneen," 
accompanied  by  Mrs.  Emma  McKinney,  on  the  harp.  After  an 
encore,  she  sang  "  I  Canua  Leave  the  Old  Folk  Now." 

Chairman  Johnston  then  said  : 

In  introducing  to  you  the  next  speaker,  I  feel  as  an  adopted  son 
would  in  introducing  a  father  to  his  own  family.  I  don't  refer  to  the 
age  of  my  distinguished  friend,  for  he  is  old  only  in  wisdom  and  ex 
perience.  He  is  young  in  heart,  in  energy,  in  zeal  and  affections.  I 
refer  to  Colonel  Colyar,  of  Nashville. 

Colonel  Colyar: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — That  I  should  be  placed  upon  this  plat 
form,  in  the  presence  of  so  many  distinguished  men  from  abroad,  is 
one  of  the  things  that  I  don't  understand.  I  suppose  somebody 
wants  a  plea  for  Tennessee  put  in.  In  regard  to  the  claims  of  the 
Scotch-Irish,  Tennessee  may  well  be  heard.  If  I  were  to  give  you  the 


42  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

history  of  the  Scotch -Irish  iu  Tennessee,  I  would  give  you  substan 
tially  the  history  of  the  state.  Briefly,  the  early  settlement  or  settle 
ments  in  this  state  were  made  by  Scotch-Irishmen.  Of  the  four  men 
who  so  distinguished  the  early  history  of  Tennessee,  two  were  Scotch- 
Imh,  one  a  Welshman,  and  the  other  a  descendant  of  the  Huguenots. 
I  mean  Colonel  Campbell,  Colonel  McDowell,  John  Sevier,  and  Isaac 
Shelby.  It  is  not  exactly  true,  as  was  stated  by  one  of  the  speakers 
to-day,  that  all  who  fought  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  were  Scotch- 
Irish.  Sevier  descended  from  the  Huguenots,  and  Shelby  was  a  Welsh 
man.  If  I  had  the  time  and  ability  to  properly  present  it  to  you, 
you  would  be  interested  in  the  early  history  of  Tennessee.  These 
four  men,  and,  in  some  respects,  one  more  important  than  any  of  them, 
James  Robinson,  also  a  Scotch-Irishman,  settled  on  the  Watauga. 
And  in  referring  to  this  matter,  I  wish  to  speak  a  word  in  regard  to 
what  I  consider  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  chivalry  and  courage 
in  modern  history.  A  few  men  had  settled  west  of  the  Alleghauy 
mountains.  Boone,  it  is  said,  was  the  first  person  that  ever  settled 
west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  except  the  French  and  the  Spanish. 
James  Robinson  built  the  second  cabin  on  Tennessee  soil  west  of  the 
Alleghanies.  These  settlers  built  forts  in  which  to  protect  their 
women  and  children  from  the  Indians,  until  quite  a  large  settlement 
was  formed.  The  British  war  came  up.  During  the  darkest  period 
of  the  revolution,  when  Washington  had  passed  through  the  winter  at 
Valley  Forge,  when  Gates  had  surrendered  South  Carolina,  and  when 
Cornwallis,  with  Tarleton  on  his  right  wing  and  Ferguson  on  his  left, 
removed  from  South  Carolina  into  North  Carolina,  Washington  wrote  to 
Baron  Steuben,  saying:  "'This  is  a  dark  hour;  I  don't  know  what  is 
to  become  of  us."  At  that  hour,  Ferguson  sent  word  into  East  Ten 
nessee,  that,  if  the  people  did  not  cease  fighting  the  Indians  and  stop 
the  war,  he  would  come  to  their  country  and  destroy  them.  What 
did  these  seven  hundred  men  do?  When  they  received  this  intelli 
gence,  two  young  men,  about  thirty  and  twenty-six,  respectively,  sat 
down  on  a  log  and  said  :  "  What  shall  we  do?  General  Ferguson  has 
an  army  of  two  thousand  men,  many  of  them  trained  British  soldiers, 
and  he  says  they  will  come  and  destroy  us."  What  I  regard  as  re 
markable  is,  that  these  two  young  men  did  not  say  they  would  stand 
in  the  mountain  fastnesses  and  fight  back.  Nobody  knows  whether 
John  Sevier  or  Isaac  Shelby  made  the  suggestion,  but,  in  accordance 
with  their  decision,  they  called  in  their  troops  from  the  surrounding 
country,  and  in  four  days  they  were  on  the  march,  with  their  squirrel 
rifles,  tor  Campbell  and  McDowell,  in  Virginia.  When  united,  the 
entire  force  amounted  to  1,900  men.  Ferguson  pursued  them,  but 


MINUTES.  43 

was  defeated  at  King's  Mountain,  in  the  most  successful  battle,  except 
that  at  New  Orleans,  that  was  ever  fought  by  the  United  States 
armies.  With  one-half  his  force,  they  killed  Ferguson  and  180  of  his 
men,  and  took  every  other  man  prisoner.  According  to  Mr.  Jefferson, 
General  Washington,  and  all  the  other  great  men  of  that  day,  this 
battle  was  the  turning-point  in  the  war.  From  that  day,  the  clouds 
were  lifted  away,  and  the  cause  of  Washington  became  brighter  and 
brighter,  until  Cornwallis  finally  surrendered. 

But  that  is  a  little  tedious.  I  do  not  propose  to  pursue  that  his 
tory.  I  wish  to  say  a  practical  word  or  two.  I  say,  nearly  the  whole 
of  that  army  was  Scotch-Irish.  Doak  was  the  Presbyterian  preacher 
in  the  early  settlement,  and  preached  all  the  sermons  and  married  all 
the  people.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  forty  of  these  early  settlers  who 
signed  a  petition  to  the  legislature  of  North  Carolina,  all  except  two 
signed  their  names  in  clear,  strong  hands,  indicating  that  they  were 
men  of  ^intelligence.  It  was  the  courage  and  chivalry  that  accom 
plished  what  was  accomplished  at  King's  Mountain,  and  in  defending 
the  women  and  children  nineteen  or  twenty  years  from  the  Indians, 
that  gave  to  Tennessee  the  name  of  the  Volunteer  State.  Jackson 
came  10  Tennessee  a  few  years  afterward,  and  settled  among  the  peo 
ple  that  had  fought  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain.  Sam  Houston 
came  near  the  same  time,  and  was  educated  among  the  people.  Has 
Tennessee  since  done  any  thing  to  merit  the  title  of  the  Volunteer 
State?  She  gave  to  the  country  a  Jackson,  who,  considering  his  force 
and  losses,  fought  at  New  Orleans  the  most  successful  battle  ever 
fought  by  any  general ;  Tennessee  has  given  to  this  country  the  im 
mortal  John  Sevier,  who  fought  thirty-five  battles  and  never  lost  one ; 
Tennessee  has  given  to  the  country  that  Wizard  of  the  Woods,  Davy 
Crockett,  who,  with  every  man  of  his  command,  fell  at  the  Alamo; 
Tennessee  has  given  Sam  Houston,  who,  after  he  had  risen  to  the  po 
sition  of  Governor  of  Tennessee,  went  west,  and  gained  from  Santa 
Anna  and  the  Mexican  army  that  vast  territory,  worthy  of  an  empire, 
.and  laid  it  down  at  the  feet  of  the  United  States  in  the  great  State  of 
Texas ;  Tennessee  has  given  to  the  country  a  Polk,  who,  during  his 
administration  as  the  nation's  chief  executive,  brought  into  our 
bounds  all  that  territory  comprised  in  New  Mexico;  Tennessee  has 
given  to  this  country  another  distinguished  statesman  and  President, 
in  the  person  of  Johnson,  whom  many  of  you  revere. 

Now,  a  practical  word :  I  want  to  say  to  this  vast  crowd  of 
young  men  here  to-night,  that  I  would  be  glad  if  I  had  it  in  my 
power  to  introduce  something  new  into  our  homes  and  .our  schools. 
As  I  heard  a  distinguished  man  say  in  New  York  City  last  week,  "  We 


44  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

are  doing  a  good  deal  in  the  way  of  educating  our  young  men ;  we 
are  educating  them  intellectually,  in  charity,  and  in  Christianity; 
but  are  we  educating  them  in  patriotism?"  (Applause.)  Are  we 
training  them  in  the  love  of  country?  I  want  to  say  here  to  you  men 
who  served  with  me  in  the  Confederate  Congress,  who  fought  the  bat 
tle  of  Franklin  on  the  Confederate  side,  and  the  battle  of  Murfrees- 
boro  on  the  other,  there  is  no  hope  for  this  country  except  in  true 
patriotism,  which  is  love  of  the  country  and  love  of  the  flag.  (Ap 
plause.)  Let  me  say  to  you  young  men  here,  when  you  take  down 
these  flags  which  now  decorate  the  city,  take  them  into  your  homes 
and  your  school-rooms,  and  let  them  aid  in  the  efforts  we  should  make 
to  educate  the  young  men,  and  the  young  women,  too,  in  patriotism 
and  love  of  country. 

I  have  detained  you  longer  than  I  ought  to  have  done.  I  have 
spoken  truthfully,  earnestly,  and,  I  trust,  about  the  facts.  I  feel 
deeply  upon  the  question  that  I  have  last  spoken  about.  I  read  and 
hear  constantly  the  statement  that  we  are  carrying  elections  with 
money.  I  hear  it  stated  that  the  two  great  political  parties  in  the 
last  campaign  spent  $4,000,000.  This  is  a  sad  picture,  if  true ;  and 
I  am  rejoiced  to  see  every-where  true  men  rising  up  and  saying: 
"This  has  to  be  stopped.  We  can't  afford  to  carry  elections  with 
money."  Let  such  an  idea  become  engrafted  in  the  minds  of  our 
people,  and  this  country  is  gone.  It  can  not  live  except  through  a 
love  of  country,  and  that  don't  mean  carrying  elections  with  money. 

The  next  speaker  was  introduced  as  follows : 

Our  next  speaker  is  also  from  the  great  State  of  Illinois.  I  don't 
know  whether  he  found  Judge  Scott  or  Judge  Scott  found  him,  but 
we  are  glad  that  both  were  found  and  both  are  here.  I  introduce  to 
you  Rev.  Dr.  Dinsmore,  of  Bloomington,  111. 

Mr.  Dinsmore  said : 

Mr.  President  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — The  Scotch-Irishman  at 
last  has  got  his  voice.  That  we  have  heard.  He  has  modestly  and 
quietly  been  doing  his  work,  and  carrying  out  his  great  career  in  the 
progress  of  this  country,  until  the  meeting  of  this  Congress.  More 
has  been  said  during  yesterday  and  to-day  in  just  praise  of  his  achieve 
ments  than  I  have  ever  heard  or  read  before.  I  suppose  the  charac 
teristic  word  of  the  proceedings  of  this  assembly  is  brag,  as  mentioned 
by  Dr.  McCloskie  last  night;  but  after  expressing  sympathy  with  this 


MINUTES.  45 

drift  of  things,  if  any  man  is  a  Scotch-Irishman,  I  am  more.  I  have 
some  doubts  about  the  blood  of  some  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  stage. 
Judge  Scott  is  an  Irishman — he  has  the  blarney,  and  has  it  bad.  He 
spoke  so  gracefully — and  so  appropriately,  I  think — of  the  ladies  of 
this  brilliant  assembly,  that  a  gentleman  said  on  my  left:  "Is  he 
married?"  I  suspect  that  inquiry  arose  in  the  minds  of  many  persons 
present.  I  am  bound,  as  a  truthful  man,  to  say  that  Judge  Scott  has 
a  remarkably  beautiful  and  a  remarkably  healthy  wife.  That  is  not 
so  amusing  as  some  things  that  have  been  said  before.  I  am  exceed 
ingly  gratified  that  I  qame  here  at  this  time.  I  do  not  know  when  I 
have  so  richly  enjoyed  myself  in  many  ways  as  I  have  during  my 
stay  here.  I  have  been  across  this  state  from  Cincinnati  to  Chatta 
nooga,  and  also  over  the  M.  &  O.  Railroad,  but  never  through  this 
section  before.  I  may  as  well  honestly  confess  that  my  impression  of 
the  country  of  Tennessee  was  not  the  most  flattering.  I  was  im 
pressed  that  a  great  deal  of  the  land  was  poor,  and  that  her  prosperity 
was  not  so  great  as  has  been  reported.  But  I  am  delighted  that  I 
have  seen  what  I  have  seen  during  the  last  two  days  in  regard  to  this 
magnificent  country  in  the  midst  of  which  we  are  now  assembled. 
This  is  certainly  a  garden — picturesque,  fertile,  highly  cultivated — in 
every  way  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  interesting  parts  of  the 
country,  and  I  have  seen  nearly  all  of  them. 

I  am  glad  for  another  reason  that  I  have  come  here.  I  do  not 
know  what  Mr.  Seavy's  purpose  was,  and  I  have  no  grudge  against 
him,  in  suggesting  that  I  should  accept  the  courtesy  and  hospitality 
of  my  most  excellent  newly  found  friends,  Captain  and  Mrs.  Smithk 
at  the  Athenaeum.  I  have  thought  myself  peculiarly  fortunate  in 
this  respect,  and  have  suspected  that  some  of  our  confreres  have  been 
a  little  green-eyed  about  it.  I  have  been  surrounded  by  a  bevy  of 
beautiful  and  interesting  young  ladies.  My  head,  however,  is  gray, 
and  there  is  nothing  in  that ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  has  been  pecu 
liarly  delightful  to  me,  and  has  made  me  feel  twenty  years  younger, 
to  be  in  the-same  dining-room  with  them.  I  think  all  of  us  who  are 
here  from  abroad  must  have  been  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
this  splendid  and  venerable  institution,  in  whose  grounds  we  have  had 
this  meeting.  Where  can  we  find  anywhere  more  noble  trees,  more 
beautiful  grounds,  more  interesting  associations?  And  is  it  not  a 
great  pleasure  to  all  of  us  who  love  our  country  and  rejoice  in  its 
prosperity,  and  especially  in  its  educational-  growth,  that  we  have  in 
this  handsome  city  of  Columbia,  itself  so  beautiful,  such  a  work  and 
such  a  school,  with  so  large  a  gathering  of  pupils?  It  shall  be  ray 
pleasure  to  speak  of  this  hereafter,  whenever  I  have  the  opportunity, 


46  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN  AMERICA. 

and  to  point  out  this  institution  as  one  possessing  great  attractions  to 
those  who  have  daughters  to  educate  in  a  place  where  the  surround 
ings  will  be  the  most  happy  and  delightful,  and  where  all  the  helps 
and  influences  are  of  the  highest  order.  I  am  glad  because  I  have 
had  my  temporary  home  in  the  Athenaeum.  I  am  glad  that  I  am  here 
f '  r  another  reason.  There  is  no  class  of  men  in  this  country  that  I 
am  so  interested  in  meeting,  and  in  whose  faces  I  look  with  more 
pleasure,  than  the  Confederate  soldiers.  I  say  that  with  perfect  hon 
esty  aud  real  feeling.  I  have,  however,  seen  the  time  when  a  meeting 
with  them  was  not  so  enjoyable.  Although  I  am  a  radical  Republican, 
and  have  been  ever  since  I  kuew  any  thing,  as  well  as  my  father  before 
me,  at  the  same,  time,  I  would  be  ashamed  for  the  American  who 
could  not  appreciate  aud  rejoice  in  the  valor  of  those  heroic  men  who 
lie  in  nameless  graves  all  over  this  southland.  I  have  not  been  so 
thrilled  during  this  assembly  as  I  was  by  the  remarks  of  Colonel 
Colyar.  I  am  in  full  sympathy,  as  you  all  are,  with  the  suggestion 
that  the  thing  we  need  most  is  a  genuine  and  all-pervasive  patriotism ; 
and  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  would  almost  be  a  blessing  if 
some  foreign  war  might  come — though  I  do  not  press  that,  as  a  Chris 
tian  man — in  which  the  bugle  might  sound,  and  these  old  men  in  the 
fire  and  mettle  of  youth  might  stand  at  their  country's  call  shoulder 
to  shoulder  and  side  by  side  in  the  ranks,  as  they  would  do,  and  their 
sons  after  them. 

I  will  not  go  into  the  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  for  that  has 
been  dwelt  upon.  In  all  the  ramifications  of  my  family  for  genera 
tions,  no  other  blood  has  appeared.  I  profoundly  sympathize  with 
this  movement,  and  most  earnestly  hope  that  it  may  result  in  some 
thing  permanent  and  useful,  and  that  it  may  foster,  not  a  clannish  or 
narrow  spirit,  but  self-conscious  and  aggressive  power,  and  fraternal 
feeling  of  a  great  and  noble  race,  which,  in  my  judgment,  has  done 
more /or  civilization,  in  proportion  to  its  numbers,  than  any  other  peo 
ple  that  has  lived  since  the  Christian  era  began. 

Miss  Rosa  Barnett  sang  "  Lass  with  Bonny  Blue  Een,"  being  in 
troduced  by  Dr.  D.  C.  Kelley,  as  follows: 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  the  audience  one  in  whose 
gentle  blood  flows  the  fiery  torrent  that  once  pulsed  in  the  veins  of 
Knox;  in  whose  blood  mingles  the  inspiration  of  the  calm,  determined 
voice  that  uttered  for  the  first  time  on  the  American  continent  the 
tones  of  independence,  in  reading  from  the  court-house  door  to  the 
assembled  country  the  declaration  of  independence  of  Mecklenburg ; 


MINUTES.  47 

in  whose  veins  mingle,  also,  the  same  flow  of  blood  that  coursed 
through  the  veins  of  James  Knox  Polk,  concerning  whom  a  recent 
historian  has  said :  "  The  most  brilliant  presidential  career  that  Amer 
ica  has  ever  had  was  that  of  the  man  who  gave  the  Pacific  slope  to 
answer  back  to  the  calls  of  the  Atlantic  waves."  In  her  gentle  veins 
are  their  Scotch-Irish  blood,  and  we  do  reverence  to  their  patriotism 
as  we  listen  to  her. 

Chairman  Johnston: 

The  next  address  that  will  be  made  will  be  by  our  friend,  Mr.  W. 
O.  McDowell,  of  New  Jersey.  We  have  them  from  Tennessee,  Ken 
tucky,  and  North  Carolina,  and  this  gentleman  is  from  New  Jersev. 
He  is  not  very  high,  but  he  is  all  wool  and  a  yard  wide. 

Mr.  McDowell: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — As  we  have  been  listening  for  the  last 
two  days  to  the  grand  story  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  as  told  by  a  Kuott,  a 
Henry,  a  McCloskie,  and  other  gentlemen,  you  and  I  doubtless,  have 
been  asking  the  question  :  What  on  earth  have  the  rest  of  creation 
been  doing  for  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years?  (Laughter.)  It  has 
been  suggested  to  me  that,  if  the  Scotch-Irish mau  had  been  around  on 
creation  day,  he  would  have  been  able  to  make  a  good  many  valuable 
suggestions. 

I  have  been  inquiring  around  this  town  to-day  for  a  little  infor 
mation.  I  want  to  know  how  it  is  possible  that  such  a  display  of 
womanly  beauty  could  be  placed  before  an  audience  like  this.  I  was 
speaking  to  two  native  Scotch-Irishmen,  and  they  explained  it  to  me. 
One  of  them  said  that  the  very  industrious  committee  had  been  at 
work  sending  all  the  poor  horses  a  hundred  miles  from  Columbia,  and 
had  been  gathering  the  beautiful  women  of  this  country  and  Ken 
tucky  and  bringing  them  to  the  front  seats  in  this  audience,  and  had 
locked  up  all  the  homely  ones.  The  other  said  :  "  Don't  you  know 
that  there  is  not  a  poor  horse  or  a  homely  woman  in  all  the  State  of 
Tennessee  ?" 

My  friends,  I  feel  peculiarly  glad  to  be  with  you  here  at  this  time. 
At  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  April,  I  had  the  distin 
guished  honor  to  stand  in  the  room  where,  after  the  close  of  the  revo 
lutionary  struggle,  George  Washington  said  good-bye  to  the  soldiers 
of  his  army.  Surrounding  me  were  delegates  from  twenty-two  states 
of  this  Union.  We  had  met  in  this  sacred  place  and  hour  at  the  call 


48  THE  SCOTCH  IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

of  our  President,  to  formulate  and  organize  the  national  Society  of 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  We  could  not  understand  how  it 
was  possible  that  the  sons  of  the  soldiers  of  the  revolution  could  have 
rested  quietly  a  hundred  years,  leaving  its  memories  to  be  celebrated 
only  by  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati.  That  perpetuates  on  American 
soil  the  principles  of  primogeniture,  against  which  our  ancestors 
fought.  Our  meeting  gave  birth  to  the  Democratic  Society  of  Sons 
of  the  Revolution.  Our  officers  were  elected,  and  as  vice-president  of' 
the  society  for  France,  we  elected  a  descendant  of  that  famous  French 
man  without  whom  even  our  Scotch-Irish  ancestors  might  have  been 
unsuccessful,  La  Fayette.  The  various  states  represented  nominated 
their  vice-presidents.  We  had  felt  that  there  was  a  patriotic  society 
that  could  be  born  on  American  soil  that  was  not  sectional,  with  no 
North  and  no  South,  but  with  one  common  glorious  country. 

The  Scotch-Irish  were  immigrants  to  America  before  the  day  of 
the  revolution,  and  when  you  gather  them  around  you,  you  gather  a 
society  of  the  sons- of  the  American  revolution.  When  the  Scotch- 
Irishman  comes  here  to-day,  you  see  him  in  peace,  and  his  influence 
will  be  one  of  peace  all  along  the  line.  Just  as  I  left  New  York,  a 
document  was  placed  in  my  hands,  that  I  did  not  have  an  opportunity 
to  examine  until  I  reached  Columbia.  It  was  the  message  sent  to 
the  soldiers  of  the  revolution  immediately  after  the  inauguration  of 
George  Washington,  congratulating  the  great  chief.  This  I  will  read, 
together  with  his  response.  .  .  . 

One  hundred  years  have  gone  by  since  those  messages  were  ex 
changed  and  sent  out  to  the  country,  and  it  reads  almost  like  divinity's 
production.  A  little  while  ago,  I  was  brought  into  contact  with  some 
of  the  most  intelligent  men  of  China,  and  I  asked  them  what  they 
thought  of  a  government  like  ours.  The  man  to  whom  the  question 
was  directed  gathered  himself  up,  looked  down  to  me,  and  said : 
"  From  the  stand-point  of  our  four  thousand  years  of  written  history, 
we  look  upon  your  government  as  a  mere  experiment."  I  want  to  say 
to  the  young  men  and  the  young  women  that  are  listening  to  my  voice, 
that  the  responsibility  of  government  for  the  people,  of  the  people, 
and  by  the  people,  rests  as  strongly  upon  our  shoulders  to-day  as  it 
did  upon  the  men  of  the  revolution.  We  should  be  far  from  sitting 
down  with  the  idea  that  nothing  remains  for  us  to  do  but  to  enjoy  the 
luxuries  that  our  fathers  secured  to  us.  On  last  election  day,  I  stood 
at  the  polls  within  fifty  miles  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  saw  the 
employes  of  a  large  manufacturing  establishment  brought  to  the  polls, 
where  the  roll  was  called,  and  each  man  was  given  a  certain  ticket  to  de 
posit  in  the  ballot-box.  The  northern  papers  tell  you  that  things  of  that 


MINUTES.  49 

sort  occur  in  the  South  ;  I  tell  you  of  something  that  I  saw  with  my 
own  eyes.  If  a  man  touches  human  life,  he  must  pay  the  penalty  of 
the  law.  But  there  is  something  in  this  country  beyond  human  life, 
and  that  is  the  sanctity  of  the  ballot-box.  If  we  would  see  this  gov 
ernment  continue,  we  must  see  that  no  ballot  goes  into  the  box  that  is 
bought  or  forced.  (Applause.)  Washington,  in  the  worst  day  of  his 
experience  at  Valley  Forge,  said :  "  Put  none  but  Americans  on  duty 
to-night."  I  want  to  see  Americans  on  duty  now,  seeing  that  the  laws 
of  the  land  shall  protect  the  ballot-box.  Kentucky,  Massachusetts, 
and  other  states  have  passed  the  law  which  the  best  judgment  of  men 
has  declared  most  efficient — the  Australian  system  of  voting.  I  am 
told  that  Tennessee  has  passed  it;  thank  God  for  that. 

Another  thing :  When  these  Scotch-Irish  got  into  differences  in 
this  country,  and  all  the  rest  of  you  took  up.  those  differences,  the  flag 
of  the  Union  stood  second  on  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  England  soon 
swept  it  by  diplomacy  and  chicanery  from  the  sea,  and  beat  us  again 
by  the  same  means  in  the  Geneva  conference.  It  is  the  duty  of  our 
young  men  especially  to  see  to  it  that  the  position  we  once  held  upon  the 
bcean  is  regained.  Whatever  England  does,  let  us  beat  her  at  it,  un 
til  our  flag  again  leads  upon  the  sea.  Our  educational  institutions  are 
the  very  foundation-stone  of  liberty.  During  the  last  few  years,  legal 
provisions  have  been  made,  whereby  each  school  district,  each  locality, 
each  city,  can  take  upon  itself  special  taxes  to  establish  free  public 
libraries  to  aid  the  public  schools,  and  I  hope  to  see  the  time  when  the 
social  center  shall  be,  not  the  rum  shop,  but  the  free  public  library. 

A  short  while  ago,  I  was  in  a  company  where  a  distinguished 
German  made  an  able  defense  of  the  English  side  of  the  home  rule 
question.  In  that  audience  was  another  gentleman,  who  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  said  :  "  When  you  speak  of  art,  science,  literature,  theology, 
the  whole  world  can  bow  in  respect  before  the  German  character;  but 
when  you  speak  of  human  liberty,  the  German  should  bend  in  the 
dust,  for  where  in  the  world  has  the  call  been  made  for  liberty  that 
the  Scotch-Irish  did  not  respond  all  along  the  line?"  My  brother  who 
has  just  spoken  has  expressed  the  wish  that  a  foreign  war  might  come 
to  secure  unity  among  our  people.  I  want  to  say,  that  peace  has  its 
victories  even  greater  than  those  of  war.  If  you  want  to  make 
thrones  tremble,  make  this  government  so  successful  that  the  benefits 
of  freedom  shall  be  known  throughout  all  the  world.  I  believe  in  the 
evolution  of  governments,  and  in  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  I  believe 
there  are  two  forms  of  government  that  naturally  conflict — a  govern 
ment  of  the  people  for  the  people,  and  the  government  of  the  people 
4 


50  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

for  a  few.  That  conflict  will  continue  until  the  world  is  again  enslaved 
or  is  free.  If  you  want  the  institutions  you  love  so  well  spared  this 
fate,  make  this  government  so  successful  and  its  benefits  so  pronounced 
that  it  will  shake  every  tyrant  from  a  human  throne. 

Chairman  Johnston  introduced  the  next  speaker,  as  follows: 

Our  friend,  Dr.  Hall,  said  there  was  one  citizen  of  the  United 
States  that  had  come  over  here  expressly  to  be  born.  We  will  now 
have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  this  gentleman,  Dr.  John  S.  Macin 
tosh,  of  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Macintosh : 

There  was  a  Quaker  once,  who  came  across  the  sea  and  found  a 
pleasant  place  for  a  city  that  is  known  as  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love. 
When  he  had  got  it  fairly  well  under  way,  the  Scotch-Irishmen  found  that 
it  was  a  very  satisfactory  place  to  live  in,  and  on  the  universal  principle 
of  Scotchmen  that  Scotland  is  a  good  place  to  be  born  in  and  an  ex 
cellent  place  to  come  from,  they  took  possession  of  the  Quaker  City  ; 
and  from  the  time  that  the  Scotch-Irishman  came  there,  it  began  to 
grow,  until  now  it  throws  its  arms  from  shore  to  shore.  I  come  here 
to-night,  not  to  make  any  particular  address,  but  to  convey  to  the 
Scotch-Irish  Congress,  to  our  most  excellent  chairman,  who  has  con 
ducted  all  the  affairs  of  this  convention  with  a  facility  that  I  have 
rarely  seen  equaled  and  never  seen  surpassed ;  to  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  who  will  permit  a  Philadelphian  knowing  a  little  about 
the  arrangement  and  management  of  conventions,  to  say  that  I  wonder 
how  they  have  gathered  together  so  remarkable  a  band  of  men,  every 
man  knowing  his  place,  every  man  knowing  his  own  work,  never  getting 
in  his  neighbor's  way,  but  doing  every  thing  so  well  that  a  glorious 
unity  is  the  result ;  and  to  convey  to  the  people  of  this  remarkably 
beautiful  and  attractive  city,  the  salutations  of  a  very  large  body  of 
Scotchmen  and  of  Scotch-Irishmen  who  could  not  possibly  be  here  on 
this  occasion.  I  have  been  charged  to  present  the  salutations  of  a  man 
who  stands  easily  at  the  head  of  that  profession  which  is  so  honorable 
and  in  many  respects  so  sacred,  which  so  closely  concerns  the  Master's 
work,  healing  the  sick  and  the  suffering — Dr.  Hayes  Aguew,  whose 
name  is  well  known  over  this  continent.  I  am  charged  to  present  to 
the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  not  only  his  congratulations,  but  his  hearty 
love ;  and  if  you  knew,  as  some  of  us  know,  that  heart  of  his,  you 
would  appreciate  the  expression  of  a  man  who  carries  with  him  the 


MINUTES.  51 

confidence  of  every  man  and  every  woman  who  knows  him,  and  whose 
pain  he  has  ever  touched  in  suffering.  A  nobler  and  grander  speci 
men  of  the  Scotch-Irishman  than  he  is  I  know  not  from  pole  to  pole. 
(Applause.) 

I  am  further  charged  to  express  and  convey  to  you  on  behalf  of 
my  session — and  I  can  do  this  with  some  degree  of  historic  propriety, 
iu  view  of  the  objects  of  this  gathering — the  hearty  and  earnest  salu 
tation  of  the  mother  church  of  the  mother  synod  of  Philadelphia, 
whose  name  stands  high  on  that  flaming  roll  of  glory  of  those  wh.i 
took  so  wondrous  a  part  in  working  out  the  great  achievements  that 
have  received  the  admiration  of  the  world,  as  having  had  no  little  part 
in  formulating  that  marvelous  document,  which  the  greatest  master 
of  international  law  and  statesmanlike  thought,  \Vm.  E.  Gladstone, 
has  declared  to  be  among  the  highest  monuments  of  man's  genius  and 
governmental  achievement.  I  come  to  convey  the  salutation  of  that 
old  church  that  keeps  within  its  historic  archives  and  its  most  precious 
treasures  the  picture  of  Tennant,  one  of  those  great  men  who  moved 
the  hearts  of  the  world,  and  discerned,  as  the  great  object  of  Scotch- 
Irish  chivalry  and  heroism,  christianized  patriotism  and  patriotic 
Christianity.  I  come  to  convey,  on  behalf  of  a  large  body  of  lawyers 
and  physicians,  engineers  and  conductors,  all  over  the  county  of  Phila 
delphia,  and  all  over  the  proud  Keystone  State,  our  hearty  cougratu* 
lations.  One  of  them,  bearing  the  historic  name  of  Rogan,  said  to 
me :  "  See  to  it  that,  if  there  shall  be  any  organization  established, 
that  my  name  shall  be  among  the  first  enrolled,  as  my  ancestors  were 
among  the  earliest  of  those  that  struggled  for  the  independence  of  this 
country." 

I  come  charged,  also,  with  the  salutations  of  a  man  who,  in  one 
department  of  our  great  national  work,  has,  perhaps,  done  more  than 
any  other  man  that  I  know — a  Scotch-Irishman,  a  friend  of  Scotch- 
Irishmen  ;  a  man  whose  generous  heart  and  whose  characteristic 
Christian  patriotism  showed  itself  at  a  hundred  points  along  the  line; 
a  man  who  cared  for  the  wounded  and  the  suffering,  wherever  they 
were  found ;  a  man  who  has  been  the  friend  of  all  those  who  were 
distressed;  a  man  who.  has  continually  watched  and  added  to  the 
progress  of  this  country.  I  refer  to  my  old  Sabbath-school  superin 
tendent,  Geo.  H.  Stewart.  Now  would  be  the  time  for  me  to  present 
to  this  association  the  letter  of  my  honored  friend  and  revered  teacher: 

May  1,  1889. 

Thanks  for  your  thoughtful  kindness  in  inviting  me  to  the  Con 
gress  at  Columbia,  which  invitation  I  hasten  to  acknowledge.  As  to 


52  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA.. 

the  nature  of  the  approaching  meeting,  I  am  not  fully  informed,  but 
I  feel  sure  it  is  for  some  good  purpose.  The  Scotch-Irish  blood  that 
flows  in  my  own  veins  would  enthuse  with  new  life  in  joining  hands 
with  my  brethren  in  their  heart-felt  and  soul-stirring  utterances,  which 
are  sure  to  characterize  this  gathering.  The  very  title  of  the  confer 
ence  and  the  historic  memories  evolved  guarantee  that  it  will  not  be 
lacking  in  Scotch  heart  or  Scotch  warmth ;  and  would  God  bless  the 
Scotch-Irish  Congress  in  drawing  to  itself  the  wise  and  the  good  from 
all  parts  of  our  common  country,  and  in  still  further  cementing  the 
ties  that  bind  us  in  mutual  love  and  Christian  fellowship.  I  would 
gladly  be  with  you,  but  I  have  been  a  great  invalid  for  over  a  year, 
and  spend  most  of  iny  time  at  Clayton  Springs,  to  which  I  expect 
soon  to  return.  GEO.  H.  STEWART. 

There  is  another  friend  of  mine,  whose  only  deficiency  is,  I 
think,  the  deficiency  of  friend  Phrauer ;  that  is  to  say,  he  made  the 
mistake  of  not  going  to  Ireland  or  the  South  of  Scotland  to  be  born. 
If  that  had  been  the  case,  he  would  be  a  man  that  would  almost  make 
me  doubt  my  catechism  ;  but  I  think  that  was  just  left  out  to 
make  it  evident  that  no  man  is  born  absolutely  perfect,  for  other 
wise  he  claims  a  good  share  along  this  line.  This  is  my  friend,  John 
Wanamaker.  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  following  letter : 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  2,  1889. 
DEAR  SIR : 

I  am  greatly  obliged  for  your  kind  letter  of  invitation,  and  wish 
I  were  free  to  make  the  visit  you  propose,  and  renew  our  old-time 
friendship.  I  can  not  express  the  pleasure  it  would  give  me  in  join 
ing  with  you  in  commemorating  the  deeds  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race, 
and  the  influences  that  have  exalted  our  American  institutions  and 
given  growth  to  universal  brotherhood  and  Jove.  I  would  also  visit 
the  favored  section  of  the  South  in  which  the  exercises  of  the  Congress 
are  to  be  held.  I  regret  exceedingly  that  my  duties  at  present  are  of 
stfch  a  nature  that  I  can  not  leave  again  for  some  time,  as  the  recent 
centennial  celebration  in  New  York  took  what  little  time  I  could 
spare  from  the  work  of  this  department. 

Yours  truly, 

JOHN  WA.NAMAKER. 

This  will  show  you  the  feelings  of  the  old  Keystone  State,  and 
how  this  meeting  has  awakened  the  interest  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
race. 


MINUTES.  53 

I  want  to  say  one  other  word  in  concluding  ray  quite  extempora- 
neous  remarks.  It  is  to  me  a  personal  matter  of  the  greatest  possible 
gratification  that,  in  spite  of  the  hundred  forces  that  have  threatened 
to  become  insurmountable  obstacles  in  my  way  of  getting  here,  that  I 
have  been  able  almost  to  complete  a  chain  of  personal  investigation 
that  has  been  for  me  one  of  the  delights  of  years.  Beginning  away 
back  in  those  early  days  of  plastic  and  expansive  boyhood,  when  the 
heart  of  the  chivalrous  lad  will  respond  like  the  harp  that  we  have 
listened  to  this  evening  to  the  almost  divine  touch  of  a  mother's  finger, 
I  have  heard  of  the  deeds  of  Scottish  ancestors  and  Scotch  and 
Scotch-Irish  ancestresses ;  I  have  listened  to  the  old  tales  of  St.  An 
drews;  I  have  heard  of  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow;  I  have,  in  imagina 
tion,  walked  along  the  spur  of  the  cloud,  and  passed  and  repassed  over 
that  battle-ground  of  the  old  border  territory ;  I  have  sat  and  won 
dered  what  these  marvelous  places  must  be  like,  and  have  wondered, 
when  first  I  listened  to  these  names  and  saw  in  fancy's  eye  these  won 
drous  pictures,  if  the  time  would  ever  come  that  my  own  feet  should 
tread  these  spots  and  my  own  eye  should  see  those  scenes  that  had 
grown  hallowed  by  the  thoughts  of  the  covenanting  dead  and  the 
early  struggles  in  the  plantation  of  Ulster.  But  the  time  came  when 
the  Philadelphia  boy  must  pass  across  the  sea;  and  from  the  time 
that  sea  was  passed,  home  after  home,  hamlet  after  hamlet,  county 
after  county,  church  after  church,  college  after  college,  has  been  vis 
ited  by  me,  until  I  have  traced  in  Scotland  and  in  Ulster  those  mag 
nificent  springs  of  glorious  light  and  consecrated  blood  out  of  which 
first  flowed  the  streams  that  have  converged  upon  our  own  shore  and 
rolled  into  that  great  river  of  power  that  has  carried  on  its  breast 
God's  truth  and  human  liberty ;  and  I  have  followed,  in  coming  to 
this  meeting,  with  a  strange  thrill  of  affectionate  recollection,  the 
stream  along  which  came  those  of  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  race,  as 
they  passed  from  my  own  dear  native  state  along  the  Cumberland 
stretch,  over  the  little  rise  into  the  pleasant  valley  of  Virginia,  down 
along  the  states  east  and  west,  down  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Smoky, 
until  they  came  into  the  clear  and  pleasant  regions  of  Carolina  and 
Alabama.  Then,  strangely  enough,  I  have  discovered  that,  winding 
around  at  Decatur,  I  have  come  right  up  in  the  valley  of  this  great 
old  State  of  Tennessee.  As  along  this  path  I  have  traveled  with  the 
speed  of  the  iron  horse,  I  have  thought  of  the  days  of  toil,  weary  day 
after  weary  day,  of  those  great  pioneer  souls,  who  were  made  of  God 
the  breakers  of  the  way,  in  opening  the  pathway  through  the  track 
less  wilderness,  and  planted  the  garrison  spots  for  the  defense  of  the 
country  in  its  most  critical  hours.  It  has  been  to  me  a  moment  of 


54  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

most  gracious  opportunity  to  see  thus  the  old  homes  that  I  have  known 
so  well  on  the  other  side  appear  iu  wondrous  resurrection  on  this  west 
ern  shore ;  and  to  know  that  in  the  land  of  ray  birth  my  ancestors  and 
my  ancestresses  live  again  in  their  mighty  sons  and  their  God-fearing, 
noble,  consecrated  daughters.  (Applause.) 

Miss  Minnie  Holding,  accompanied  on  the  piano  by  Miss  Camile 
Herndon,  sang  "  Comin'  thro'  the  Eye,"  and,  as  an  encore,  "  I  Know  a 
Maiden  Fair  to  See." 

Colonel  A.  S.  Colyar  paid  a  compliment  to  the  Committee  of  Ar 
rangements  which  had  prepared  the  Congress,  and  said  that  he  desired 
to  offer  a  resolution  thanking  Mr.  A.  C.  Floyd  for  the  prominent  part 
in  the  work  which  he  had  taken. 

Colonel  Colyar  said : 

Such  great  assemblies  and  such  perfection  of  arrangements  are 
the  results  of  no  ordinary  effort  or  ability.  Behind  it  all,  oft  times 
unknown,  is  always  some  thoughtful  mind  which  devises  plans,  and 
some  skillful  hand  which  executes  them.  The  moving  and  directing 
spirit  on  this  occasion  is  a  quiet  but  forceful  gentleman,  whose  worth 
and  efforts  should  command  the  recognition  and  the  unqualified  thanks 
of  the  whole  Scotch-Irish  race.  I  therefore  move  the  resolution,  that 
to  Mr.  A.  C.  Floyd,  more  than  to  any  one  else,  is  due  the  success  of 
this  Congress,  and  that  we  tender  him  our  thanks  for  the  work  he  has 
done. 

The  resolution  was  seconded  by  Mr.  McDowell,  of  New  Jersey, 
who  remarked  that  Mr.  Floyd,  in  doing  this  work,  had  builded  wiser 
than  he  knew. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted,  after  which  the  meeting 
adjourned. 


Friday,  May  10th. 
MOKNING  SESSION. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  11  o'clock  by  Chairman 
Johnston. 

Dr.  John  S.  Macintosh  led  in  prayer. 


MINUTES.  55 

Chairman  Johnston  introduced  the  first  speaker  of  the  morning, 
as  follows : 

The  first  speaker  this  morning  is  a  gentleman  who  rightly  ac 
quired  fame  in  the  service  of  the  gods  of  war ;  and  after  the  war 
ceased,  he  took  up  the  sword  in  behalf  of  the  God  of  Peace — Dr.  D. 
C.  Kelley. 

(See  Part  II,  for  the  historical  address  on  "  The  Scotch-Irish  in 
Tennessee.") 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  his  regular  address,  Dr.  Kelley,  who  had 
been  a  colonel  of  cavalry  in  the  C.  S.  A.,  at  the  request  of  the  com 
mittee,  spoke  for  the  southern  soldiers  in  the  reunion  of  the  Blue  and 
the  Gray,  General  John  C.  Brown,  who  was  to  have  represented  them, 
being  kept  away  by  grave  illness. 

The  following  is  a  synopsis  of  his  warm  and  impressive  words : 

Already,  in  the  course  of  what  I  have  had  to  say,  allusions  have 
been  made  to  many  men  of  Scotch-Irish  birth,  who,  as  Tennesseeans, 
became  foremost  in  the  late  war.  Bishop  and  General  Leonidas  Polk, 
high  in  sanctity,  learning,  and  patriotism,  showed  a  courage  surpassed 
by  no  soldier  of  the  war.  Lieutenant-General  N.  B.  Forrest,  the 
genius  of  war,  and  Alex.  Stewart,  the  genius  of  discipline,  with  Major- 
General  Jno.  C.  Brown  and  Brigadier-General  Alex.  Campbell, 
knights  of  untarnished  honor,  supported  and  illustrated  the  soldierly 
virtues  of  the  race.  To  these,  allow  me,  as  we  stand  near  the  spot  in 
Tennessee  which  was  for  a  time  glorified  by  the  temporary  grave  of 
Pat.  Claiborne,  the  loving  and  the  brave,  to  add  him,  as  a  star  of  the 
first  magnitude,  to  our  galaxy,  at  whose  zenith  glows  the  name  of 
Stonewall  Jackson.  If  we  turn  to  the  other  side  and  judge  by  name 
and  places  of  birth,  we  have  a  right  to  claim  Lieutenant-Generals 
Scott,  McClellau,  Smith,  Wallace,  and  a  score  of  other  illustrious  sol 
diers,  conspicuous  in  the  Union  ranks.  If  you  will  allow  us  to  add 
another  criterion  to  name  and  place  of  birth,  viz.,  the  great  size  and 
tenderness  of  his  heart,  then,  by  every  token,  we  would  write  at  the 
top  of  all  these  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  could  love  as 
tenderly  as  an  Irishman,  and  hold  by  principle  with  the  tenacity  of  a 
Scotchman ;  no  more  can  be  said  for  man,  while  yet  mortal.  His 
birth  in  Kentucky,  and  name,  link  him  with  the  race.  As  we  found  in 
Douglass  and  Bell,  at  the  beginning  of  the  political  contest  out  of 
which  the  war  came,  Scotch-Irish  representatives  of  love  of  the  Union 


56  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

and  conservative  statesmanship,  so,  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  strife, 
until  the  autonomy  of  the  states  had  been  restored,  we  find  this  stick- 
to-rights  race  foremost  in  all  that  ennobled  these  years  of  bitterness 
and  conflict. 

Many  of  us  of  the  South  did  not  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  states 
rights  to  the  extreme  of  secession ;  many  of  us  longed  for  the  day 
when  the  negro  and  the  white  man  would  be  freed  from  the  curse  of 
slavery.  We  did  not  believe  in  the  methods  adopted  by  the  North  to 
test  the  one  doctrine  or  to  accomplish  the  other  fact ;  so,  when  driven 
by  the  call  to  arms  to  decide  for  the  one  side  or  the  other,  we  stood  "by 
our  people;  we  saw  no  other  star  of  duty,  so  followed  our  hearts, 
which  clove  to  our  people  and  to  the  weaker  side  in  its  appeal  to  our 
courage.  On  both  sides,  men  did  what  they  believed  right,  and  died 
in  testimony  of  their  faith.  With  reverent  memory  and  uncovered 
heads,  we  hold  forever  as  our  equal  heritage  the  sense  of  duty  and  the 
deeds  of  sacrifice  and  courage  which  illumined  the  years  of  strife. 

The  southern  poet  will,  in  the  glad  day  to  come,  tune  his  harp  to 
a  major  key,  as  he  shall  celebrate  the  courage,  tenderness,  and  truth 
of  the  northern  soldier,  and  historians  from  the  granite  hills  will  do 
justice  to  the  statesmen  and  soldiers  of  the  South.  All  shall  thank 
God  that  we  are  one  people. 

Will  our  northern  friends  be  patient  while  we  work  out  our  race 
problem  in  love  to  the  Union,  with  tenderness  for  our  brother,  and 
faith  in  God's  providence  ? 

We  bear  no  hatred  to  the  negro ;  he  has  none  for  us.  Time  is 
the  only  solvent  of  our  difficult  problem.  Give  us  time,  your  confi 
dence,  and  your  prayers,  and  in  the  end  you  will  say  of  us,  well  done. 

To  Columbia,  the  heart  of  old  Maury,  which  is  God's  paradise, 
the  home  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  this  convention  bids  me  offer  one  word 
of  good-bye.  These  days  we  have  spent  here,  this  gathering  of  the 
fairest  women  and  the  knightliest  men,  this  first  hand-shaking  of  kin 
dred  blood — as  we  think  of  you  in  connection  with  it,  the  memory 
will  be  treasured  in  the  same  heart  chambers  with  the  first  kiss  of  our 
sweethearts  and  the  last  kiss  of  our  mothers. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Kelley's  remarks,  he  was  presented  with 
a  handsome  bouquet  of  flowers,  with  the  following  remark  by  the 
Chairman : 

I  am  requested  to  present  to  you  these  northern  daisies,  from  a 
northern  lady.  You  captured  northern  soldiers  during  the  war;  you 


MINUTES.  57 

are  capturing  northern  daisies  now ;  and  I  hope  you  will  keep  them 
longer  than  you  did  the  soldiers. 

Dr.  Kelley  accepted  the  flowers  with  the  following  words: 

These  daisies  bear  the  name  of  my  first-born  daughter,  who  is 
now  a  missionary  in  Japan.  I  accept  them  for  a  token  of  northern 
love,  and  treasure  them  for  the  name  they  bear. 

The  next  speaker  was  introduced  by  the  Chairman  as  follows: 

We  are  now  going  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  hearing  a  representa 
tive  northern  soldier,  who  has  kindly  come  a  long  distance  to  speak  to 
you  upon  this  occasion.  His  is  a  very  English  name.  I  don't  know 
where  he  got  his  .  Scotch-Irish  blood,  but  it  is  supposed  from  his 
mother;  and  as  we  get  the  best  of  every  thing  we  have  from  our 
mothers,  he  got  it  in  the  right  place.  There  has  been  a  suspicion 
somewhat  general  throughout  the  country,  that  our  distinguished 
friend,  the  Corporal,  has  a  tendency  to  be  a  little  prodigal  with  the 
people's  money  in  certain  lines.  I  know  that  the  whole  country  will 
be  deeply  gratified  to  find  that  he  has  some  Scotch-Irish  blood  run 
ning  through  his  veins,  which  will  tend  to  make  him  a  little  parsimo 
nious  in  that  line. 

Mr.  Tanner  was  received  with  applause.  His  first  sentence  se 
cured  the  sympathy  of  the  audience,  which,  with  attentive  ear  and 
great  applause,  followed  him  through  his  amusing  allusions,  his 
forcible  and  eloquently  expressed  ideas,  and  his  references  of  friend 
ship,  respect,  and  honor  for  the  South  and  her  people.  His  address 
was  a  fine  effort. 

Prefacing  his  remarks  with  some  allusions  to  the  many  incidents 
that  American  history  affords  of  the  magnificent  manner  in  which,  on 
American  soil,  the  representatives  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  have  upheld 
the  reputation  of  their  nationality,  and  pointing  out  the  fact  that  they 
were  notably  conspicuous  on  both  sides  in  the  late  war,  both  for  num 
bers  and  prowess,  Mr.  Tanner  spoke  as  follows  : 

Friends  and  Countrymen : — We  thank  God  and  congratulate  our 
selves  as  we  assemble  here  to-day,  that  there  is  so  much  in  our  posses 
sion,  and  so  much  in  prospect  for  us  in  common  as  citizens  of  this 
great  republic.  And  without  regard  to  the  boundaries  of  any  particu- 


58  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

lar  state  which  we  designate  as  our  own,  we  look  back  over  a  hundred 
years  that  are  passed  and  gone,  and  \ve  see  much  of  struggle,  much  of 
creation,  much  of  bitter  sectionalism,  and  all  too  much,  we  will  all 
agree,  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  of  bloody  strife.  Thank  God 
we  can  contemplate  it  as  of  the  past,  and  we  firmly  believe,  forever 
past.  Standing  to-day  upon  the  shining  uplands  of  prosperity  and 
peace,  we  sweep  the  world  with  our  gaze,  and  contemplate  with  pride 
the  fact  that  the  American  nation  stands  secure  ;  its  position  unchal 
lenged  in  the  face  of  the  civilized  world,  the  glory  of  its  citizenship 
respected  and  honored  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  But  a  pecu 
liar  combination  of  circumstances  encompass  while  they  do  not  em 
barrass  me  to-day,  and  seem  to  indicate  that  there  are  some  lines  of 
thought  and  speech  to  which  my  mind  should  fitly  turn. 

Within  the  time  of  those  of  us  who  are  now  of  middle  or  elder 
age,  this  country  has  been  shaken  from  center  to  circumference  by  the 
rude  shock  of  bloody  war ;  of  war  in  its  most  horrible  form  ;  a  death 
struggle  between  brethren  of  the  same  household.  We  stand  to-day 
on  ground  that  for  a  long  time  was  debatable,  and  we  have  gathered 
here  to-day,  representatives  of  both  of  those  mighty  armies  that  met 
in  the  shock  of  battle,  to  testify  by  our  presence,  by  the  greeting 
given,  by  the  sentiments  felt  and  expressed,  that,  however  high  the 
hopes  of  the  past,  however  dear  the  ambitions  which  were  swept  aside 
in  the  smoke  of  battle,  to-day  we  are  proud  above  all  other  things,  of 
the  fact  that  we  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  that  in 
our  common  possession  lies  the  domain  of  this  mighty  republic,  and 
the  prestige  of  its  citizenship  wherever  in  foreign  clime  our  paths  may 
lead,  that  before  us  in  our  common  destiny  for  weal  or  woe,  and  that 
we  are  one  people,  and  that  over  our  heads  there  floats  to-day 
one  flag. 

Search  all  the  history  of  the  nations  of  the  past,  and  among 
them  you  can  find  no  such  exhibitions  of  the  unification  of  a  people 
so  recently  and  apparently  permanently  rent  asunder  and  engaged  in 
such  a  mighty  and  sanguinary  strife. 

Here  to-day  are  assembled  many  men  who,  in  the  struggle  of  1861 
to  1865,  contested  on  the  one  side  for  the  disruption,  and  on  the  other 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  If  there  be  any  fitness  in  my  ap 
pearance  on  this  platform  to-day,  it  rises  from  the  fact  that  in  the  days 
of  that  struggle  I  stood  in  the  ranks  of  that  mighty  column  of  blue. 
If  there  are  any  words  to  which  my  tongue  can  most  appropriately 
turn  to  give  utterance  to-day,  they  should  formulate  themselves  into  a 
message  which  I  feel  I  can  honestly,  conscientiously  and  consistently 
Ving  from  my  comrades  of  the  North,  who  in  the  years  of  our  strife, 


MINUTES.  59 

in  answer  to  the  defiance  of  the  old-time  and  never-to-be-forgotten  rebel 
yell  sent  ringing  back  to  the  extent  of  our  lung  power  the  Yankee 
hurrah.  If  there  be  any  class  of  citizens  over  the  whole  country  with 
whose  sentiments  I  am  familiar  above  that  of  any  other  class,  it  is  the 
veterans  of  the  Union  armies,  who,  from  1861  to  1865,  when  health 
was  in  their  faces,  and  vigor  in  their  steps,  belted  the  country  across 
with  a  line  of  blue,  and  beat  back  the  mighty  hosts  of  the  South;  and 
I  am  proud  of  the  fact  that  I  can  bring  from  my  comrades  of  the 
Northland  a  sentiment  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  peace  and  pleas 
antry  and  good  feeling  which  is  such  an  adjunct  on  this  occasion  to-day. 
If  I  may  be  pardoned  a  personal  reference,  then  permit  me  to  say  that 
I  am  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  sentiments  of  my  heart  are,  and  for 
long,  long  years  have  been,  entirely  in  accord  with  the  unification  and 
homogeneity  of  the  exercises  of  this  hour. 

Very  many  years  ago  I  stated,  have  repeated  it  many  times  since 
then,  meant  it  every  time  I  repeated  it,  and  mean  it  to-day  no  less 
than  ever,  that  if  there  should  walk  into  my  office  the  very  "  Johnnie" 
who  pulled  the  lanyard  of  the  gun  which  sent  the  shell  which  crippled 
me  for  life,  and  I  was  satisfied  that  he  stood  with  us  to-day,  for  the 
honor  of  our  common  institutions  and  the  glory  of  our  common  flag, 
this  right  hand  would  reach  way  out  across  the  so-called  bloody  chasm, 
and  I  would  say,  "Put  it  there,  Johnnie,  you  and  I  will  go  out  and 
take  dinner  together,  and  talk  over  old  times." 

The  sentiment  of  no  one  class  of  men  in  this  country  has  been 
more  thoroughly  misunderstood,  or,  if  understood,  more  misrepresented 
by  the  citizens  at  large  than  the  sentiments  existing  in  the  two  columns 
that  were  led  by  Grant  and  Lee.  The  fact  of  the  business  is  that  when 
JLee  surrendered  to  Grant  at  Appomattox,  no  two  classes  of  men  were 
more  nearly  together,  not  only  physically  but  mentally,  than  the  two 
lines  of  men  who  stood  there  dressed  in  gray  and  dressed  in  blue. 
They  had  met  in  the  shock  of  battle ;  they  had  fought  it  out  man 
fashion,  and  I  call  every  soldier  here  present  as  witness,  no  matter  on 
which  side  he  fought,  to  this  fact,  that  if  at  the  time  of  the  surrender, 
the  settlement  of  the  questions  at  difference  between  the  two  great 
sections  of  the  country  could  have  been  left  to  those  two  lines  of  blue 
and  gray,  those  questions  would  have  been  settled  honorably,  amicably 
aud  lastingly,  aud  the  politicians  would  have  been  out  of  business  dur 
ing  the  whole  of  the  reconstruction  period. 

Grant  epitomized  the  whole  idea,  when  in  the  hour  of  his  mighty 
triumph  he  turned  to  the  leader  of  the  "  lost  cause"  and  said  to  him : 
"  General,  tell  your  men  to  take  their  horses  home  with  them.  They 
will  need  them  to  do  the  spring's  plowing  with."  Did  you  ever  let 


60  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

your  thoughts  run  out  in  contemplation  of  the  beauty  of  that  senti 
ment,  springing  from  the  heart  of  that  man  ?  He  had  been  vilified 
and  wickedly  misrepresented  in  all  the  civilized  sections  of  the  globe ; 
he  had  been  pictured  as  one  who  delighted  simply  in  scenes  of  carnage ; 
who  had  no  love  for  his  fellow  men ;  no  regard  except  for  his  own  am 
bitions,  and  yet  in  that  hour  instinctively  his  heart,  as  did  the  hearts 
of  the  veterans  he  had  led  to  victory,  welled  up  with  the  desire  that 
the  wasted  and  devasted  places  of  the  South  might  be  made  to  bloom 
and  blossom  again  in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time.  It  was  not 
so  strange  a  thing  when  you  come  to  think  of  it.  All  true  men  know 
this,  that  no  matter  how  earnestly  you  may  fight  a  man,  no  matter 
how  utterly  you  may  condemn  the  principles  for  which  he  contends, 
when  you  find  that  man  so  terribly  in  earnest  that  he  offers  his  life  in 
behalf  of  the  principles  for  which  he  combats,  a  respect  grows  up  for 
that  mighty  earnestness  in  spite  of  our  utmost  antagonism  to  the  prin 
ciples  he  contends  for. 

Borne  out  by  my  own  experience1  in  the  years  of  peace  which 
have  followed  the  close  of  the  struggle,  I  declare  it  to  be  a  thoroughly 
enjoyable  time  when  a  lot  of  old  comrades  get  together  and  live  again 
in  the  memories  of  the  past — calling  to  mind  the  rich  associations  of 
the  days  gone  by ;  but  when  the  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul  is  to 
soar  to  its  utmost  altitude,  then  mix  them  up — the  blue  and  the  gray 
— and  then  as  we  gently  remind  one  another  of  the  days  of  the  past 
when  with  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  strife  we  could  have 
played  checkers  upon  each  other's  coat-tails,  then  time  flies  un 
heeded  by. 

You  will  bear  in  mind  I  am  speaking  of  the  men  who  fought.  I 
am  not  speaking  of  those  men  of  whom  we. have  all  too  many,  who 
never  fronted  the  shock  of  war,  and  did  not  get  mad  until  all  oppor 
tunity  to  do  battle  had  passed  away,  who  were  the  invisibles  of  war, 
and  are  the  iuvincibles  of  peace.  I  presume  you  have  them  here  and 
farther  South,  among  those  who  claimed  to  support  the  fortunes  of  the 
Confederacy.  We  have  plenty  of  them  in  the  North.  They  are  the 
fellows  who  yelled  themselves  into  an  advanced  stage  of  bronchitis,  in 
quiring,  "  Why  don't  the  army  move,"  who  were  such  superlative  mili 
tary  tacticians  that  they  could  lay  out  more  plans  of  campaigns  in  a  night 
than  the  generals  on  both  sides  would  see  fit  to  fight  in  a  year,  but  who, 
notwithstanding  all  the  art  and  science  of  war,  no  sooner  heard  the 
cry  for  three  hundred  thousand  more,  than  they  at  once  came  to  a  po 
sition  of  "  rest,"  with  a  draft-list  in  one  hand  and  a  time-table  of  the 
nearest  route  to  Canada  in  the  other,  ready  to  skip  across  the  border 
if  their  names  showed  up  in  the  list  of  those  who  were  called.  The 


MINUTES.  61 

man  who  stood  before  me  on  the  other  side  and  gave  me,  in  relation 
to  him,  what  he  had  in  relation  to  myself — the  chance  of  life  for  life 
— stands  a  thousand  degrees  higher  in  rny  estimation  than  the  snapping, 
snarling  and  yelping  curs  and  whelps  who  did  not  have  courage 
enough  to  be  soldiers  in  the  time  of  war,  and  who  can  not  turn  their 
foul  tongues  to  any  thing  venomous  enough  to  say  of  veterans  in 
time  of  peace. 

I  congratulate  you,  and  I  congratulate  myself  no  less  that  in 
these  piping  days  of  peace  we  have  reached  this  high  altitude  where, 
from  the  uplands  of  long  continued,  and  I  trust  never  to  be  interrupted 
prosperity,  we  can  gaze  back,  as  though  we  were  recalling  a  hideous 
dream,  upon  that  bloody  past. 

God  speed  the  day  when  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people,  North  and 
South,  there  may  come  that  same  splendid  feeling  which  permeates  the 
breast  of  every  one  here  assembled,  and  who  in  the  olden  days,  with 
unflinching  heart  and  undaunted  mein,  marched  and  met  and  fought 
as  bitter  foes,  and  who  to-day  and  for  the  days  to  come  are  friends, 
and  will  be  until  those  better  days,  when  the  call  shall  be  sounded  for 
the  last  assembly  on  that  further  shore,  where  all  our  services  will  be 
in  the  ranks  commanded  by  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

When  he  had  finished  his  remarks,  Mr.  Tanner  was  presented 
with  flowers  by  Mr.  Johnston,  as  follows: 

I  am  requested  to  present  to  you,  as  a  representative  northern 
soldier,  these  southern  roses,  from  a  southern  lady ;  and  notwithstand 
ing  you  are  in  the  heart  of  Tennessee,  you  need  have  no  apprehension 
that  the  soldiers  of  Jackson  or  Forrest  will  attempt  to  recapture  this 
trophy. 

The  meeting  adjourned  to  8  o'clock. 


NIGHT  SESSION. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  8  o'clock. 

The  Chairman   introduced  Mr.  John  Moore,  of  Columbia,  who 
delivered  a  short,  humorous  address. 


62  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

Colonel  Johnston  announced  that  he  would  be  compelled  to  leave 
the  city  on  the  night  train,  having  come  with  the  intention  of  staying 
only  one  day.  He  said  he  wanted  to  come  and  meet  with  his  Scotch-Irish 
friends  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  had  met  with  so  much  kind 
ness  and  courtesy,  and  had  formed  so  many  pleasing  acquaintances, 
not  only  in  the  fair  city  of  Columbia,  but  among  the  distinguished 
visitors,  that  he  had  been  detained  longer  than  he  had  contemplated. 
He  said  he  wanted  to  return  his  thanks  to  the  people  of  Columbia, 
and  to  the  Congress,  for  the  uniform  kindness  which  had  been  shown 
him  on  this  visit,  which  he  should  treasure  as  one  of  the  happiest  of 
his  life. 

Colonel  E.  C.  McDowell  took  the  chair. 

Mayor  Robert  Pillow  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  are  hereby 
tendered  to  the  Hon.  J.  F.  Johnston,  for  the  perfect  manner  in  which 
he  has  presided  over  our  deliberations,  and  that  we,  the  citizens,  as 
well  as  those  who  belong  to  the  Congress,  do  esteem  it  a  privilege 
thus  publicly  to  express  our  appreciation  of  the  very  valuable  services 
rendered. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  passed. 

The  next  speaker  was  introduced  by  Colonel  Colyar,  as  follows : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — I  don't  know  when  I  have  had  a  more 
agreeable  task  to  perform  than  in  introducing  to  you  to-night  the  dis 
tinguished  speaker.  There  is  something  peculiarly  agreeable  to  me  in 
introducing  him  to  a  southern  audience,  and  I  will  in  a  very  few  words 
tell  you  why.  We  have  had  in  the  South  a  long,  hard  struggle ; 
our  great  effort  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  been  to  build  up  our  in 
dustrial  interests,  and  develop  our  great  resources.  I  don't  say  that  we 
have  had  but  few  friends  in  the  North.  Many  men  in  the  North  have 
stood  by  us  warmly,  energetically,  and  have  given  us  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship  on  all  occasions ;  but  one  man  above  all  others  has  been 
the  friend  of  the  South  in  all  our  efforts,  and  that  man  is  Colonel  A. 
K.  McClure,  of  Philadelphia.  Wherever  I  have  met  him  in  the  last 
fifteen  years,  whether  in  the  South  or  in  his  home  in  Philadelphia,  I 
have  found  him  talking  about  the  South  and  the  southern  people, 
sympathizing  with  them  in  their  misfortunes,  and  using  his  great 


MINUTES.  63 

paper,  read  by  all  the  better  people  of  the  northern  states,  in  helping 
us  along,  and  holding  up  our  hands,  and  giving  us  a  word  of  encour 
agement.  Again  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  ray  distin- 
tinguished  friend,  Colonel  McClure. 

(For  Colonel  McClure's  address,  see  Part  II,  page  178.) 

Colonel  Colyar  made  a  statement  concerning  the  exercises  of  the 
Tennessee  Chatauqua,  and  the  Mineral  and  Metallic  Exposition,  to  be 
held  in  Nashville,  in  1890,  and  said  he  would  like  to  have  Colonel 
McClure  open  the  proceedings  of  the  latter. 

The  Congress  adjourned. 


Saturday,  May,  llth. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  11  o'clock  by  Chairman 
McDowell. 

Dr.  Jerry  Witherspoon  led  in  prayer. 

The  audience  joined  in  repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

The  first  speaker  of  the  day  was  introduced  by  Chairman  McDow 
ell,  as  follows : 

Hon.  Benton  McMillin  has  consented  to  deliver  a  short  address. 
His  remarks  will  be  almost  ex  tempore.  To  Teunesseeans  it  is  almost 
unnecessary  for  me  to  say  who  Mr.  McMillin  is  ;  to  our  guests  I  will 
say  that  he  is  a  member  from  Tennessee  to  the  United  States  Congress. 

(See  Part  II,  page  187.) 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  address,  Mr.  McMillin  was  presented 
with  a  bouquet  of  flowers. 

The  next  speaker  was  introduced  by  the  Chairman,  as  follows: 

Your  long-delayed  desires  are  about  to  be  satisfied.  We  reserved 
Dr.  Macintosh's  address  for  the  last,  because  it  is  one  of  the  best.  I 
now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Dr.  John  S.  Macintosh, 
of  Philadelphia. 

(See  Part  II,  p.  191.) 


64  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

Mr.  McDowell  said  it  seemed  to  him  that  this  address  had  been 
an  inspiration,  and  one  sent  through  the  heart  of  a  pure  soul.  From 
this  day  forward,  the  Scotch-Irish  race  will  no  longer  be  without  a  writ 
ten  history.  A  hundred  years  from  now,  or  sooner,  when  the  princi 
ples  of  that  people  and  a  belief  in  a  government  of  the  people,  for  the 
people,  and  by  the  people,  shall  be  the  fundamental  principle  of  every 
civilized  government,  we  will  still  be  mindful  of  that  race  which  gave 
to  the  world  the  principle  that  man  has  the  right  to  govern  himself, 
subject  alone  to  the  Almighty  God.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Floyd  read  the  following  resolution,  which  he  said  had  been 
left  with  him  the  previous  night  by  Chairman  Johnston  just  before  he 
left: 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Congress  are  eminently  due,  and 
are  hereby  tendered,  Dr.  Robert  Pillow,  for  his  constant  attention 
upon,  and  his  uniform  courtesy  and  kindness  to,  every  visiting  mem 
ber  of  the  Congress. 

Dr.  Macintosh  seconded  the  resolution,  as  follows : 

I  want,  oil  the  part  of  myself  and  my  wife,  and  all  of  us  here,  to 
second  that  motion.  I  don't  know  what  would  have  become  of  us  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  considerate  magisterial  government  of  our  hon 
orable  Mayor. 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  Dr.  Pillow  responded,  as 
follows : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — As  you  well  know,  I  am  no  speaker,  but 
I  express  my  thanks  for  this  resolution,  and  say  that  it  has  been  my 
pleasure  to  contribute  to  the  advancement  of  this  cause,  in  which 
I  have  had  my  whole  soul. 

Mr.  Floyd  said,  on  behalf  of  the  several  committees,  that  the 
people  of  Columbia  felt  proud  that  they  had  such  a  flattering  attend 
ance  upon  the  proceedings,  and  that  they  had  had  the  honor  to  enter 
tain  so  distinguished  a  body  of  visitors. 

Mr.  W.  O.  McDowell  said  that,  as  the  representative  of  one  of 
the  most  distant  points  represented  in  the  meeting,  he  wanted  to 


MINUTES.  65 

move  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  citizens  of  Columbia  for  the  magnificent 
way  in  which  they  had  received  the  visitors.     He  said : 

There  is  only  one  fault  that  I  have  to  find,  the  warmth  of 
your  hearts  has  even  affected  the  atmosphere.  Would  that  my  tongue 
was  as  gifted  as  that  of  a  Henry  ;  would  that  I  had  the  eloquence  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  race,  that  I  might  put  in  words  our  appreciation  of 
your  elegant  entertainment.  I  must  say,  in  addition,  that  never  on 
American  soil,  or  throughout  the  world,  has  there  been  held  outside  oi 
official  halls,  a  meeting  more  important  in  the  progress  of  the  human 
race  than  is  this  gathering  after  a  hundred  years  of  experience  on 
American  soil  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race. 

Dr.  D.  C.  Kelley  said : 

We  desire  to  offer  old  Maury,  the  center  of  physical  beauty,  and 
to  Columbia,  the  center  of  Maury,  our  voice  of  thanks,  our  words  of 
joy,  and  the  promise  to  keep  in  our  memory  these  days  as  we  would 
treasure  the  first  kiss  of  our  sweetheart,  the  last  of  our  mother. 

The  audience  united  in  singing  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  after  which 
the  Congress  adjourned  sine  die. 
5 


66  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  SOCIETY 
OF  AMERICA. 

President. 
ROBERT  BONNER,  New  York. 

First  Vice- President  at  Large. 
JOSEPH  F.  JOHNSTON,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

Second  Vice- President  at  Large. 
E.  C.  MCDOWELL,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Vice-President  at  Large  for  British  America, 
MR.  THOMAS  KERR,  Toronto,  Canada. 

Secretary. 
A.  C.  FLOYD,  Columbia,  Tenn. 

i 

Treasurer. 

Lucius  FRIERSON,  Columbia,  Tenn. 

Historian  and  Registrar. 
THOMAS  M.  GREEN,  Maysville,  Ky. 

Vice-Presidents  of  States  and  Territories. 

REV.  Dr.  JOHN  HALL,  New  York. 
COLONEL  A.  K.  McCLURE,  Pennsylvania — Philadelphia. 
HON.  WM.  O.  MCDOWELL,  New  Jersey — Newark. 
MR.  MATTHEW  ADDY,  Ohio — Cincinnati. 


OFFICERS   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  67 

JUDGE  JOHN  M.  SCOTT,  Illinois — Bloom ington. 

HON.  WM.  WIRT  HENRY,  Virginia— Richmond. 

HON.  S.  B.  ALEXANDER,  North  Carolina — Charlotte. 

COLONEL  T.  T.  WRIGHT,  Florida — Pensacola. 

HON.  WM.  PRESTON  JOHNSTON,  Louisiana — New  Orleans. 

MR.  A.  G.  ADAMS,  Tennessee— Nashville. 

DR.  HERVEY  C.  MCDOWELL,  Kentucky. 

*HoN.  A.  T.  WOOD,  Ontario,  Canada — Hamilton. 

REV.  J.  C.  QUINN,  Montana — Helena. 


*  A  Vice-President  for  each  of  the  remaining  states  and  territories  of  the 
Union,  and  each  province  of  Canada,  will  be  appointed  by  the  President  as 
fast  as  selections  can  be  made. 


68  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

ROBERT  BONNER,  Chairman,  New  York. 

A.  C.  FLOYD,  Secretary,  Columbia,  Tenn. 

Lucius  FRIERSON,  Columbia,  Tenn. 

HON.  J.  F.  JOHNSTON,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

COLONEL  T.  T.  WRIGHT,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

REV.  DR.  JOHN  S.  MACINTOSH,  Philadelphia. 

PROF.  GEO.  MCCLOSKIE,  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey. 

DR.  ROBERT  PILLOW,  Columbia,  Tenu. 

COLONEL  H.  G.  EVANS,  Columbia,  Tenn. 


ACTION   OF   COMMITTEES  SINCE  THE   CONGRESS.  69 


ACTION  OF  COMMITTEES  SINCE  THE   CON 
GRESS. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  in  New  York  City,  on 
the  llth  of  July  last,  requisites  for  membership  was  one  of  the  mat 
ters  considered. 

Article  III  of  the  Constitution  is  as  follows : 

"Any  male  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  Scotch- 
Irish  blood  in  his  veins,  shall  be  eligible  for  membership  in  the  Asso 
ciation." 

In  addition  to  this,  it  was  decided  that  each  member  should  be 
required  to  pay  annual  dues  of  $2.00  upon  entering  the  Society. 

The  payment  of  his  dues  entitles  each  member  to  a  copy  of  this 
volume,  in  paper  covers ;  thirty-five  cents  additional  being  required 
for  a  cloth-bouud  copy. 

An  Executive  Committee  of  nine  members  was  appointed,  and 
to  them  were  delegated  all  the  powers  not  exercised  by  the  Council. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  in  New  York  City,  on 
the  following  day,  A.  C.  Floyd,  Lucius  Frierson,  and  Robert  Pillow 
were  appointed  a  Committee  on  Publication.  The  name  of  this  vol 
ume  was  chosen,  and  plans  for  its  publication  discussed. 

The  Secretary  was  instructed  to  accept  the  cordial  invitation  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  of  Pittsburg  to  hold  the  next  annual  Congress  of  the 
Society  in  that  city. 


II. 


THE   HARP  OF   TOM  MOORE. 

AT  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  CONGRESS,  MAY,  1889,  COLUMBIA,  TENN. 

BY  WALLACE   BBUCE. 

The  top  of  the  morning  to  Ireland 

And  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  to-day  ! 
All  hearts  respond  to  the  banquet 

When  the  Harp  of  Tom  Moore  leads  the  way. 
The  bells  of  the  Shandon  are  ringing 

Their  music  from  over  the  sea, 
But  sweeter  the  Harp  of  her  poet 

In  the  mountains  of  old  Tennessee. 

The  sons  of  the  Shamrock  and  Thistle 

Still  cherish  the  visions  of  yore, 
And  the  Harp  of  old  Tara  awakens 

Again  to  the  voice  of  Tom  Moore  : 
Each  string,  with  memories  sacred, 

Is  tuned  to  Liberty's  key  ; 
And  the  songs  that  float  down  the  ages 

Are  always  the  songs  of  the  free. 

It  sings  of  the  "  Exile  of  Erin," 

But  her  exiles  are  exiles  no  more, 
For  the  Isle  of  old  Erin  has  drifted 

Close  under  Columbia's  shore. 
"  Where  Liberty  is,  is  my  country," 

Has  guided  her  over  the  way, 
And  Columbia  holds  in  her  borders 

The  heart  of  old  Ireland  to-day. 
(70) 


THE   HARP   OF   TOM   MOORE.  71 

Manhattan  and  Plymouth  and  Jamestown 

Can  boast  of  their  heritage  true, 
But  Mecklenburg's  fame  is  immortal 

When  we  number  the  stars  in  the  blue; 
The  Scotch-Irish-Puritan-Fathers 

First  drafted  the  words  of  the  free, 
And  the  speech  of  Virginia's  Henry 

Is  the  crown  of  Our  Liberty's  plea. 

The  sons  and  the  grandsons  of  heroes 

Who  fought  for  freedom  and  right 
With  joy  hail  the  dawn  of  the  morning —    > 
" Mavourneen  !"     Awake  to  the  light! 
The  maidens  of  Lome  and  Killarney 

Are  swelling  the  chorus  to-day, 
For  the  castles  of  Oban  and  Blarney 

Are  only  just  over  the  way. 

Then  welcome,  a  thrice  hearty  welcome, 

To  legendry,  lyric,  and  lore, 
With  a  pledge  and  "  Guid  Hielan'  welcome" 

To  the  voice  and  the  Harp  of  Tom  Moore; 
A  toast  to  the  Shamrock  and  Thistle, 

And  sunshine  both  sides  of  the  sea, 
As  Erin  clasps  hands  o'er  the  ocean 

With  Columbia  in  fair  Tennessee. 


72  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 


ADDRESS  DELIVERED  BY  EX-GOVERNOR 
PROCTOR  KNOTT,  OF  KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen: — As  we  are  assembled  to 
honor  the  memories  of  our  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  and  to  devise,  if 
possible,  some  means  of  gathering  up,  and  crystallizing  into  the  more 
enduring  form  of  written  history,  the  legendary  memorials  of  their 
deeds,  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  proceedings  of  the  present  Con 
gress  might  be  appropriately  prefaced  by  a  brief  inquiry  into  their 
origin,  the  characteristics  which  distinguished  them  from  other  people, 
and  what  they  did  to  entitle  them  to  the  respectful  recollection  of 
coming  generations.  That  office  I  will,  therefore,  attempt  to  dis 
charge;  and,  in  undertaking  it,  I  will  endeavor  to  do  precisely  as  I 
think  they  would  have  me  do,  if  they  could  come  to  me  to-day  from 
their  consecrated  graves  and  dictate  the  present  utterances  of  my 
tongue — speak  of  them  as  they  were  ;  tell  the  truth,  as  I  understand 
it,  of  their  frailties,  as  of  their  virtues ; 

"  Nothing  extenuate, 
Nor  set  down  aught  in  malice." 

When  Agricola  marshaled  his  legions  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Firth  of  Solway,  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  he  looked  out  upon  a  coun 
try  lying  beyond  the  parallel  of  latitude  which  forms  the  southernmost 
boundary  of  Alaska,  and  embracing  about  thirty  thousand,  five  hun 
dred  square  miles  of  territory,  as  cheerless,  perhaps,  in  all  its  aspects, 
as  any  that  ever  provoked  the  ambition  or  tempted  the  cupidity  of  a 
Roman  conqueror. 

Directly  in  his  front,  and  as  far  as  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Dumfries,  stretched  a  tangled  labyrinth  of  swampy  woods,  interlaced 
by  a  matted  network  of  creeping  undergrowth.  To  the  westward,  as 
far  as  St.  Patrick's  Channel,  lay  a  rugged  and  almost  inaccessible  dis 
trict  of  roughly  wooded,  rocky  hill  lands,  trenched  by  turbulent 
streams,  and  abounding  in  lovely  lakes.  Northward,  beyond  the 
present  limits  of  Dumfries,  to  the  narrow  isthmus  of  low  lands  lying 
between  the  Firths  of  Clyde  and  Forth,  and  eastward  to  St.  Abb's 
Head,  extended  a  similarly  broken  region,  covered  with  a  growth  of 
scrubby  timber,  interrupted  here  and  there  by  barren  ridges  and 


ADDRESS   OP   HON.    PROCTOR  KNOTT.  73 

dreary  moorlands.  What  are  now  the  fertile  aud  flourishing  counties 
of  Ayr  and  Renfrew,  was  then  a  sterile  aud  uninviting  waste,  while 
the  unbroken  umbrage  of  a  primeval  forest  shut  out  the  sunlight  from 
the  rich  plains  of  Berwick. 

North  of  the  isthmus  of  Clyde  and  Forth,  lay  the  vast  sea-girt 
wilderness  of  Celyddon,  the  Caledonia  of  the  Romans,  extending 
away  to  the  wave-washed  rocks  of  Cape  Wrath  and  John  o'  Groats — 
a  bleak,  inhospitable  region,  with  its  craggy  shores  fretted  by  firths 
and  lochs,  and  its  surface  corrugated  by  an  ''nterminable  maze  of  misty 
mountain  ranges,  with  their,  barren  crests  and  towering  cliffs,  inter 
spersed  with  rushing  torrents  and  roaring  lynns,  lonely  tarns  and  soli 
tary  glens,  desolate  corries  and  densely  wooded  straths,  while  its  east 
ern  boundary,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tay  to  Moray  Firth,  was  a  suc 
cession  of  extensive  marshes  and  sterile  hills,  made  more  forbidding 
by  the  icy  blasts  which  swept  over  them  from  the  northern  ocean. 

Yet  some  of  the  remote  ancestry  of  many  of  the  courteous  and 
cultured  audience  before  me,  as  well  as  some  of  my  own,  had  made 
their  cheerless  homes  in  this  rude  and  repulsive  region  for  centuries 
before  the  foot  of  the  Roman  invader  first  pressed  its  indigenous 
heather;  while  others  of  them  might  have  been  found,  perhaps,  in 
the  wandering  clans  which  went  over  from  the  northern  part  of  Ireland 
in  the  earlier  centuries  of  our  era,  as  allies  of  their  Caledonian  kin 
dred  in  their  predatory  inroads  upon  their  southern  neighbors,  and 
finally  settled  along  the  western  coast,  from  Cantyre  to  Sutherland. 

They  were  not  as  elegant  in  manners,  nor  as  elevated  in  morals,  how 
ever,  as  might  possibly  be  inferred  from  the  intelligence  and  refinement 
of  many  of  their  descendants  of  the  present  period.  On  the  contrary, 
they  were  as  savage  as  their  surroundings  were  wild  and  inhospitable, 
and  were  regarded  by  their  neighbors  not  only  with  a  well  grounded 
terror,  but  with  far  more  disgust  and  abhorrence  than  we  do  our 
thieves  aud  tramps.  The  very  names,  indeed,  by  which  their  nation 
ality  has  been  designated  in  history  were  never  assumed  by  themselves, 
but  were  mere  terms  of  reproach  applied  to  them  by  the  victims  of 
their  rapacity, .who,  out  of  revenge  for  the  manifold  injuries  they  had 
suffered  from  their  predacious  hands,  denounced  the  fierce  and  trucu 
lent  tribes  who  occupied  the  eastern,  as  well  as  the  greater  portion  of 
the  interior  and  southern  sections  of  the  territory,  as  picticfi  or  pehts, 
while  they  called  the  roving  bauds  who  went  over  from  the  north  of 
Ireland  scuite,  signifying,  respectively,  in  the  vernacular  of  the  early 
Briton,  robbers  aud  vagabonds,  the  two  terms  being  subsequently 
latinized  by  the  Romans  into  Picti  aud  Scotti. 

Nor  was  the  country  occupied   by  them   known  by  its  present 


74  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

name  for  many  generations  after  their  first  appearance  in  authentic 
history ;  not,  in  fact,  for  over  two  hundred  years  after  the  nominal 
union  of  the  Scots  and  Picts  under  Kenneth  McAlpine  in  843,  when 
the  centuries  of  sanguinary  strife  between  those  two  branches  of  the 
Celtic  race  in  North  Britain  finally  terminated  in  their  complete  coali 
tion,  and  the  united  kingdom  was  called  Scotland,  after  the  dominant 
power.  And  even  then,  its  inhabitants,  notwithstanding  the  introduc 
tion  of  Christianity  among  them  as  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  sixth 
century,  were  still  as  barbarous  in  many  respects  as  their  fierce  fore 
fathers,  who,  more  than  thirty  generations  before,  in  a  heroic  struggle 
for  their  wild  independence,  met  hand  to  hand  the  trained  legionaries 
of  imperial  Rome  upon  the  bloody  slopes  of  the  Grampian  Hills. 

Their  lack  of  progress  was  not  so  much  their  fault,  however,  as 
their  misfortune.  Their  history  during  that  long  period,  as  it  was  for 
centuries  after  and  had  been  for  generations  before,  was  that  of  a  con 
stant,  unremitting,  and  perilous  contest  for  sheer  existence.  Com 
pelled  to  supplement  their  meager  domestic  resources  with  the  preca 
rious  spoils  of  the  chase,  they  were  obliged,  in  order  to  eke  out  their 
scanty  means  of  subsistence,  not  only  to  encounter  the  dangers  of  a 
capricious  and  tempestuous  climate,  but  to  pursue  their  quarry  fre 
quently  through  hostile  territory,  across  mountain  torrents,  through 
guarded  passes,  and  along  the  treacherous  brinks  of  precipitous  cliffs 
hundreds  of  feet  in  height.  Besides,  they  were  in  a  perpetual  state 
of  war,  when  pillage  and  arson  went  hand  in  hand  with  slaughter,  and 
the  sword  of  the  victor  knew  neither  age  nor  sex.  Harried  by  san 
guinary  feuds  with  neighboring  clans,  which  hereditary  hate  or  a  mu 
tual  desire  for  plunder  or  revenge  frequently  kept  alive  from  genera 
tion  to  generation,  and  almost  constantly  engaged  in  defending  them 
selves  from  the  cruel  incursions  of  the  powerful  and  rapacious  nations 
around  them,  they  had  no  time  for  intellectual  culture  or  moral  im 
provement. 

Under  such  circumstances,  their  advancement  in  the  scale  of 
social  being  was  necessarily  retarded  to  the  lowest  possible  degree.  It 
is  a  marvel,  indeed,  that  even  the  lowest  grade  of  civilization  could 
have  existed  among  them  at  all,  for  without  some  settled  assurance  of 
the  permanency  and  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  acquisitions  of  indi 
vidual  industry,  popular  progress  is  an  impossibility.  With  no  feel 
ing  of  certainty,  on  leaving  his  home  in  the  morning  for  the  perilous 
avocations  of  the  day,  that  he  would  not  return  in  the  evening  to  res 
cue  the  charred  remains  of  his  butchered  family  from  the  smoldering 
ashes  of  his  ruined  dwelling,  the  savage  Celt  had  neither  the  incentive 
nor  the  opportunity  to  accumulate  more  than  was  necessary  for  a 


ADDRESS   OF  HON.    PROCTOR   KNOTT.  75 

squalid  subsistence  from  day  to  day,  or,  at  most,  a  beggarly  account 
of  portable  chattels,  which  might  be  readily  removed  ou  the  approach 
of  danger.  Wealth  was,  consequently,  a  thing  unknown  among 
them,  and  commerce,  the  great  evangelist  of  civilization,  a  stranger  in 
their  midst.  For  centuries,  they  knew  of  but  two  methods  by  which 
property  might  be  transferred — robbery  and  barter — approving  as  well 
as  practicing  the  principle  that — 


"  He  may  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  may  hold  who  can." 


While  of  any  thing  like  a  standard  of  value  or  medium  of  exchange, 
they  were  so  utterly  ignorant  that  there  was  not  so  much  as  a  word  in 
their  language  signifying  money,  until  they  had  learned  the  names,  as 
well  as  the  uses,  of  current  coins  from  the  Anglo-Saxon.  And  it  is  a 
singular  fact  that,  even  down  to  the  present  generation,  many  of  their 
descendants  seem  to  have  acquired  no  true  conception  of  the  value  of 
a  dollar,  as  we  rarely  meet  with  one  of  them  who  does  not  appear  to 
think  it  is  worth  about  five  times  as  much  as  it  really  is. 

To  such  apparently  inauspicious  surroundings,  however,  may  be 
plainly  traced  the  development  of  those  peculiar  characteristics  which 
have  distinguished  the  Scottish  race  from  all  other  people,  and  which, 
though  modified  in  many  respects  by  the  intermingling  of  other  blood, 
as  well  as  by  a  more  enlightened  intelligence  and  a  broader  civiliza 
tion,  are  still  discernible,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in  their  descend 
ants  of  the  present  day. 

The  constant  exposure  of  the  hardy  Gael  to  privation  and  peril 
of  every  description,  naturally  tended  to  develop  his  physical  courage 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  savage  heroism,  as  well  as  the  habit  of  self- 
reliance,  under  the  most  trying  exigencies,  whether  in  the  chase,  amid 
the  dangers  of  his  native  solitudes,  or  steel  to  steel  with  his  dearest 
foe  upon  the  battle-field.  These  as  naturally  inspired  him  with  a  con 
fident  pride  in  his  own  manhood,  and  an  indomitable  spirit  of  personal 
independence,  which  impelled  him  to  the  instant  resistance  of  any  en 
croachment  upon  his  individual  rights,  and  rendered  him  peculiarly 
impatient  of  all  governmental  restraint  imposed  upon  him  without  his 
own  consent.  Nemo  me  impune  lacessit,  became  the  controlling  senti 
ment  of  his  being,  and  the  guiding  principle  of  his  conduct,  as  it  has 
since  become,  with  singular  propriety,  the  motto  on  his  national  coat- 
of-arms.  While  he  may  have  been  taught  that  royalty  was  hereditary 
in  the  blood,  he  nevertheless  had  a  vague  sort  of  notion,  even  in  the 
hazy  twilight  of  barbarism,  that  the  ultimate  repository  of  political  power 
was  in  the  people,  as  is  clearly  evident  in  the  ancient  Celtic  custom  of 


76  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMEK1CA. 

meeting  in  popular  assembly  upon  the  death  of  the  ruler  and  electing 
his  successor  from  among  his  sons,  or  some  collateral  branch  of  his 
family,  as  the  public  interest  might  seem  to  require. 

As  the  legitimate  out«rr.>wth  <>f  these  stronglv  developed  traits, 
we  find  that  there  has  always  been  less  respect  for  self-assumed  author 
ity,  and,  consequently,  more  frequent  rebellion  against  the  hered 
itary  claims  of  kingly  power  among  the  Scotch,  than  any  other  people 
on  the  face  of  the  globe,  as  well  as  the  still  more  striking  fact  that 
throughout  their  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years  of  sanguinary  war 
fare,  they  were  never  completely  conquered.  A  clan  might  be  ex 
terminated,  but  it  fought  until  the  stiffening  hand  of  its  last  expiring 
warrior  was  not  able  to  strike  for  freedom  or  revenge.  Overrun  they 
might  be,  as  they  often  were  by  the  superior  force  of  an  invading  foe, 
but  upon  the  slightest  removal  of  the  immediate  pressure,  they  were 
in  arms  again,  reasserting  their  wild  traditional  liberties. 

But  the  same  causes  which  made  them  brave  and  self-reliant,  also 
made  them  cautious,  cunning,  suspicious,  and  selfish,  while  the  cruelties 
they  so  often  suffered  themselves,  not  only  rendered  them  indifferent 
to  the  sufferings  of  others,  with  whom  they  had  no  connection  by 
blood  or  affinity,  but  stimulated  a  disposition  to  revenge  which  fre 
quently  manifested  itself  in  acts  of  the  most  cold-blooded  and  brutal 
atrocity.  Nevertheless  they  were  human,  and  felt  the  same  yearning 
for  society  and  sympathy-,  which  universally  pervades  the  human 
breast,  however  savage  or  depraved. 

For  the  gratification  of  that  sentiment,  whether  influenced  by 
their  own  inclination  or  not,  they  were  compelled  by  the  circumstances 
surrounding  them  to  resort  mainly  to  their  own  hearthstones.  There 
the  mother  and  children,  under  an  ever-present  sense  of  their  depend 
ence  upon  his  protection  and  counsel,  gathered  around  the  husband 
and  father,  as  their  hero  and  their  oracle,  with  mingled  emotions  of 
love,  gratitude,  veneration,  and  pride;  while  he,  in  return,  regarded 
the  proteges  of  his  prowess  with  those  feelings  of  tenderness  natural 
to  the  sacred  relation  he  sustained  toward  them,  deepened  and  intensi 
fied  by  a  realization  of  their  absolute  dependence  upon  his  strength 
and  their  confidence  in  his  courage. 

O 

The  strong  feeling  of  domestic  affection  thus  naturally  engendered, 
strengthened  by  time  and  the  constant  necessity  of  mutual  assistance, 
ripened,  at  length,  into  a  degree  of  filial  and  fraternal  attachment 
rarely  witnessed  outside  of  the  ancient  Gaelic  household.  Cherished 
by  each  member  of  the  family  through  life,  and  sedulously  inculcated 
around  the  fireside  of  each  offshoot  from  the  parent  stem,  to  be  again 
transmitted  under  similar  surroundings  to  a  still  remoter  generation, 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.    PROCTOR   KNOT1.  77 

these  ties  of  consanguinity  eventually  became  the  common  bond  of  the 
clan,  whose  chieftaiii  exercised  his  prerogatives  by  common  consent,  as 
the  lineal  representative  of  the  original  stock,  or  was  chosen,  if  occa 
sion  required,  from  the  worthiest  of  their  blood. 

In  the  light  of  such  circumstances,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  that  pe 
culiar  sentiment  of  clannish  ness,  which  bound  the  ancient  Celt  to  his 
kindred  of  the  remotest  degree,  and  which  has  brought  us  together  to 
day,  became  hereditary  in  our  blood.  Nor  is  it  more  difficult  for  us 
to  explain  that  apparent  paradox  in  the  character  of  our  earlier  an 
cestry,  namely,  the  passionate  fealty  of  the  clansman  who  esteemed  it  a 
privilege  to  die  for  his  chief,  while  his  lax  allegiance  to  royalty  suggested 
nothing  improper  In  the  murder  of  his  king.  His  chieftain  was  of  his 
own  tribe  and  kindred,  bone  of  his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh  ;  the  embod 
iment  of  the  dignity  of  his  family,  and  the  defender  of  its  honor ;  the 
cheerful  companion  of  his  hardships,  and  the  grateful  partaker  of  his 
humble  hospitality ;  the  friend  whose  dirk  was  at  his  service  in  his 
private  feud,  and  the  leader  whose  flashing  claymore  was  his  beacon 
in  the  red  storm  of  battle — ever  first  at  the  rendezvous  and  the  fore 
most  in  the  foray. 

The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  was  frequently  a  stranger  to  his 
blood,  the  descendant,  perhaps,  of  some  hereditary  foe  to  his  house, 
claiming  authority  over  him  without  his  consent,  and  by  a  title  contrary 
to  the  traditions  of  his  race  or  repugnant  to  his  own  sense  of  right. 
He  consequently  entertained  a  much  higher  regard  for  the  sovereign 
of  any  other  nation,  who  would  let  him  alone,  than  for  the  ruling 
monarch  of  his  own,  whose  reign  was  generally  turbulent  and  disas 
trous,  frequently  terminating  in  the  tragic  death  of  the  prince  himself 
at  the  hands  of  his  rebellious  subjects.  It  has  been  indignantly  asserted, 
indeed,  by  an  English  writer,  though  with  evident  exaggeration,  that 
the  Scotch  had  barbarously  murdered  forty  of  their  kings,  while  half 
as  many  more  had  made  away  with  themselves  to  escape  the  pains  of 
torture  or  perished  miserably  in  strait  imprisonment.  But  however 
that  may  have  been,  it  is  quite  safe  to  assert  that,  whenever  they  es 
poused  the  cause  of  one  of  their  princes,  a  large  majority  of  his  fol 
lowers  were  generally  influenced  by  other  motives  than  loyalty  to  his 
person  or  partiality  to  his  government. 

When,  by  whom,  or  in  what  manner,  feudalism,  with  its  various 
ranks  of  nobility,  was  introduced  among  the  Scottish  people,  is  a  mat 
ter  about  which  there  has  been  considerable  controversy  among  histo 
rians,  but  the  weight  of  authority  seems  to  support  the  opinion  that  it 
was  inaugurated  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century  by  Malcolm 
Canmore,  when,  with  the  aid  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  he  recovered 


78  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

the  scepter  of  his  father — immortalized  as  "  the  gracious  Duncan  "  in 
the  sublimest  pages  of  dramatic  literature — and  extended  from  time 
to  time  by  his  successors,  as  opportunity  presented,  until  it  became 
finally  established  throughout  the  entire  kingdom.  But  whatever  may 
be  the  facts  in  that  regard,  it  is  quite  certain  that,  while  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  feudal  system  produced  many  and  marked  changes  in  the 
political  constitution  of  Scotland,  the  power  exercised  by  the  nobility 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs  was  never  due  so  much  to  their 
legal  rank  as  to  the  influence  of  the  strong  feeling  of  clannishness 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  with  whom  they  were  immediately 
connected  by  the  ties  of  blood  or  marriage,  and  which,  from  repeated 
inculcation  and  long  heredity,  had  become  inherent  in  their  very 
natures. 

But  while  their  politics — if  we  except  their  unvarying  fidelity  to 
the  leader  of  the  clan — seems  to  have  set  as  loosely  upon  them  as  their 
tartan  plaids,  their  religion  appears  to  have  been  ingrained  with  every 
fiber  and  tissue  of  their  being ;  and  their  singular  veneration  for  ec 
clesiastical  authority,  when  compared  with  their  lack  of  reverence  for 
political  power,  especially  when  disassociated  from  the  ever  dominant 
influence  of  the  family  tie,  has  frequently  been  regarded  as  a  striking 
inconsistency  in  their  character.  A  little  reflection,  however,  should 
satisfy  us  that  an  inconsistency  in  national  characteristics  is,  in  the 
very  nature  of  things,  an  impossibility ;  and  it  is  by  no  means  difficult 
to  see  ho\v  this  peculiarity  sprung  naturally  from  the  same  surround 
ing?  which  developed  the  traits  I  have  already  mentioned. 

Compelled  by  the  necessities  of  their  condition  to  be  much  alone 
amid  the  solitudes  of  their  native  hills,  where  the  dark  and  lonely 
dells  around  them,  and  the  craggy  cliffs  towering  away  into  the  far 
blue  lift  above  them,  with  their  fantastic  shadows  mirrored  in  the  deep, 
still  tarn  below  them,  constantly  conspired  to  incite  in  them  the  pro- 
foundest  feelings  of  superstitious  awe ;  their  rude  imaginations  became 
impressed  by  the  viewless  presence  of  a  vast,  invisible,  intangible, 
mysterious  being,  whose  character  they  invested  with  the  same  savage 
attributes  as  their  own.  They  saw  his  terrible  chariot  in  the  black 
mass  of  whirling  clouds,  and  heard  his  angry  voice  in  the  roaring 
storm.  They  caught  the  gleam  of  his  vengeful  weapon  in  the  light 
ning's  bolt  that  shivered  the  gnarled  oak,  and  saw  the  outpouring  of 
his  omnipotent  rage  in  the  rushing  torrent  that  dashed  the  granite 
buttress  of  the  mountain  from  its  base  ;  and  when  the  wintry  night 
wind  shrieked  its  wailing  dirge  around  their  lonely  hovels,  they  told 
their  children,  in  the  subdued  tones  of  ignorant  awe,  of  his  wrath 
which  they  could  not  appease,  and  his  power  which  they  could  not  with- 


ADDRESS    OF    HON.    PKOCTOi:    KXOTT.  79 

stand.  It  is  not  at  all  wonderful,  therefore,  that  when  St.  Col  11  tuba 
came  to  them  with  the  priceless  truths  of  Christianity,  they  should 
hail  him  with  joy  as  the  messenger  of  peace  from  their  fierce,  myste 
rious  deity,  nor  that  they  should  seize  with  savage  avidity  upon  the 
promises  of  the  Gospel,  while  understanding  little  or  nothing  of  its 
doctrines. 

Nor  is  it  any  more  remarkable  that  the  Culdees,  who  embraced 
the  earliest  ecclesiastics  among  the  converts  of  St.  Columba,  speedily 
spread  throughout  the  whole  of  Caledonia,  where  tl.ey  maintained  an 
unquestioned  supremacy  in  all  matters  of  religious  faith  and  practice, 
and,  perhaps,  preserved  many  of  the  traditionary  customs  and  articles 
of  belief  common  to  an  earlier  period  of  the  Roman  Church  until 
centuries  later,  when  they  were  reformed  or  suppressed  in  a  more  ad 
vanced  state  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government.  For  it  should  be 
observed  that  these  rude  ministers  of  religion  were  not  a  body  of  for 
eign  clergy  thrust  upon  the  people  against  their  will  and  contrary  to 
their  prejudices,  but  were  of  their  own  kith  and  kin,  often  as  actively 
engaged  in  the  secular  affairs  of  the  clan  as  in  the  offices  of  their  more 
sacred  calling,  the  functions  of  chieftain  and  abbot  of  a  monastery 
being  not  infrequently  united  in  the  same  person. 

Described  as  a  kind  of  presbyters,  who  lived  in  small  communi 
ties,  elected  and  ordained  their  own  rectors  or  bishops,  and  traveled 
over  the  adjacent  country  preaching  and  administering  the  sacraments 
of  their  religion,  some  claim  to  have  discovered  in  their  crude  system 
of  ecclesiastic  polity  the  protoplasm  from  which  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland  was  ultimately  evolved.  But  be  that  as  it  may, 
being  educated  at  home,  understanding  no  language  but  their  own, 
and  having  but  a  limited  intercourse  with  other  nations,  they  retained 
not  only  the  traits  and  prejudices  peculiar  to  their  own  race,  but  much 
of  the  plainness  and  simplicity  of  the  primitive  ages  in  their  forms  of 
worship,  mingled,  no  doubt,  with  much  of  their  former  superstitions. 
They  consequently  obtained  an  unbounded  influence  over  the  minds 
of  their  savage  parishioners,  who  were  not  only  bound  to  them  by  the 
ties  of  blood  and  familiar  association,  but  who  confidently  expected, 
through  their  ministration,  to  secure  the  never-ending  pleasures  of  a 
blissful  paradise,  from  which  their  less  deserving  enemies  would,  for 
tunately,  be  forever  excluded. 

It  should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  race  to 
which  the  later  ancestry  of  many  of  us  belonged  was  a  composite  one — 
a  race  in  which  the  blood  of  the  rude  Caledonian  was  mingled  with 
that  of  the  sturdy  Saxon  and  the  turbulent  Norman.  Early  in  the 
seventh  century,  the  Northumbrians,  under  King  Edwin,  pushed  their 


80  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

conquests  on  Scottish  soil  to  the  estuary  of  the  Forth,  where  they 
erected  the  fortress  which  gave  its  name  to  the  present  metropolis  of 
North  Britain  ;  but  in  consequence  of  their  disastrous  defeat  at  Dun- 
Nechtan,  sixty-eight  years  later,  the  dominion  of  the  invaders  shrank 
again  within  the  waters  of  the  Tweed,  never  to  be  re-asserted  beyond 
its  northern  bank.  Nevertheless,  the  lost  territory  continued  to  be 
occupied  by  its  Anglo-Saxon  population,  which  was  subsequently  aug 
mented  from  time  to  time  by  slight  accessions  from  Northumberland 
and  its  adjacent  counties  in  the  north  of  England,  whose  inhabitants, 
from  somewhat  similar  circumstances,  had  acquired  many  of  the  moral 
traits  and  social  customs  of  their  more  northern  neighbors.  In  addi 
tion  to  this,  the  tide  of  immigration  which  followed  the  marriage  of 
Malcolm  Canmore  with  the  Saxon  Princess  Margaret,  and  continued 
with  increasing  activity  through  the  succeeding  reigns  of  their  sous, 
Edgar,  Alexander,  and  David,  not  only  changed  the  civil  and  ecclesi 
astical  institutions  of  Scotland,  but  carried  with  it,  among  thousands 
of  lesser  note,  the  founders  of  many  of  those  illustrious  houses  which 
have  figured  so  conspicuously  in  its  subsequent  annals. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  hereditary  peculiari 
ties  of  the  original  Celt  disappeared  with  his  traditionary  customs,  upon 
the  introduction  of  Anglo-Norman  jurisprudence,  with  its  accompany 
ing  civilization,  from  the  South.  On  the  contrary,  until  the  twelfth 
century,  the  only  language  spoken  north  of  the  two  friths  was  the  an 
cient  Gaelic,  while  throughout  the  Lothians  and  the  districts  further 
south,  it  was  heard  as  frequently  as  the  Anglo-Saxon ;  and  as  a  large 
majority  of  trie  immigrants  were  mere  military  adventurers  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  Scottish  kings,  they  no  doubt  intermarried  with  the 
daughters  of  the  laud,  as  the  soldiers  of  Cromwell  afterward  did  in  Ire 
land.  Thus  the  blood  of  the  Sassenach,  in  process  of  time,  became  largely 
transfused  with  that  of  their  Celtic  predecessors,  transmitting  the  lead 
ing  characteristics  of  each  of  the  confluent  races,  mutually  modified 
by  each  other,  as  an  inheritance  to  the  common  posterity  of  both. 

Consequently,  he  who  chooses  to  thread  the  intricate  mazes  of 
their  history  back  to  the  period  when  that  transfusion  became  gen 
eral,  will  invariably  find  in  the  mixed  race  of  Middle  and  Southern 
Scotland,  side  by  side  with  the  rugged  common  sense,  plainness  of 
speech,  frugality,  and  thrift  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  and  the  aggressive 
self-assertion  of  the  imperious  Norman,  the  predominant  traits  of  their 
Caledonian  ancestry  centuries  before;  the  same  impetuous  courage, 
often  amounting  to  an  utter  recklessness  of  personal  peril ;  the  same 
self-appreciation,  impelling  them  to  resent  the  slightest  aggression 
upon  their  private  concerns;  the  same  relentless  disposition,  frequently 


ADDRESS    OF   HON.    PROCTOR    KNOTT.  81 

exhibiting  itself  in  acts  of  remorseless  cruelty  or  implacable  revenge  ; 
the  same  impatience  of  all  restraint  inconsistent  with  their  own  sense 
of  right,  drawing  them  into  repeated  and  bloody  rebellion  ;  the  same 
romantic  reverence  for  the  family  tie,  influencing,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  all  their  relations  to  church  or  state  ;  the  same  stubborn  adhe 
sion  to  a  religion,  whether  under  prelatic  or  Presbyterian  auspices, 
recognizing  the  immediate  interposition  of  an  omnipotent  providence 
in  all  their  temporal  concerns,  and  frequently  inspired  more  by  a  dread 
of  his  vengeance  than  an  appreciation  of  his  mercies,  and  the  same 
unquestioning  confidence  in  the  guidance  of  their  spiritual  leaders, 
especially  when  bound  to  them  by  the  ties  of  kindred. 

The  thoughtful  student  will  observe,  moreover,  that  in  the  great 
revolt  against  the  parent  church,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  over 
throw  of  its  supremacy  among  such  a  people  could  lead  to  but  one  re 
sult,  so  far  as  their  ecclesiastical  relations  were  concerned,  and  that 
was  the  ultimate  establishment  of  precisely  such  a  system  of  church 
polity  as  took  place  upon  the  triumph  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland. 
How  much  the  lust  of  power  and  the  jealousies  of  ambition  may  have 
had  to  do  in  bringing  about  that  result,  it  is  needless  now  to  inquire. 
Without  pausing,  therefore,  to  consider  the  intricate  and  controverted 
details  of  that  long  and  angry  contest  between  the  crown,  assisted  by 
the  magnates  of  the  established  church  on  the  one  side,  and  the  nobil 
ity,  aided  by  the  spirit  of  clanship  which  pervaded  their  multitudes  of 
retainers,  and  the  active  influence  of  numbers  of  the  native  clergy, 
who  felt  the  same  potent  spell  of  family  names  and  associations,  on  the 
other,  which  culminated  in  the  downfall  of  the  papal  hierarchy  in 
Scotland,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  when  the  moment  for  the  final 
catastrophe  arrived,  the  man  for  the  hour  had  also  come ;  one  who, 
with  a  single  blow  of  his  stalwart  arm,  hurled  the  venerable  but  tot 
tering  fabric  from  its  base,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  rear  upon  its  ruins 
a  superstructure  better  suited  to  the  genius  of  his  race. 

That  man,  I  scarcely  need  say,  was  Knox — the  living,  breathing 
incarnation  of  the  highest  virtues  of  his  people,  though  not  wholly 
exempt  from  many  of  their  no  less  striking  vices.  Familiar  with  all 
their  peculiar  characteristics,  passionately  devoted  to  their  interests 
and  their  honor,  the  impersonation  of  a  lofty  and  intrepid  zeal,  tem 
pered  by  a  deliberate  and  self-reliant  judgment,  with  a  commanding  in 
tellect,  profoundly  versed  in  all  the  learning  of  the  age  and  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  its  quickening  progress,  inspired  by  an  ardent  love 
of  religious  freedom,  and  burning  with  a  bitter  scorn  for  all  forms  of 
self-assumed  authority,  he  seemed  almost  to  have  been  specially  de- 
6 


82  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

signed  for  the  great  work  of  ecclesiastical  reconstruction  of  which  he 
was,  by  common  consent,  the  acknowledged  architect. 

Detestiog  prelacy  and  papacy  alike,  he  conceived  a  scheme  some 
what  after  the  design  of  Calvin,  with  whose  views  he  was  deeply  ;tn- 
bued,  which,  though  not  fully  executed  in  his  lifetime,  resulted  in  the 
development  of  a  system  of  church  government  based  upou  the  fun 
damental  principles  of  representative  democracy — a  system  in  which 
no  minister  br  other  ecclesiastical  functionary  could  be  foisted  upon  a 
congregation  without  its  own  consent,  nor  its  humblest  member  be  de 
prived  of  any  right  within  the  cognizance  of  the  church,  without  the 
privilege  of  appealing  to  the  highest  tribunal  known  to  its  jurisdiction, 
a  tribunal  composed,  like  the  lowest  court  in  the  system,  of  representa-- 
tives  chosen  by  the  free  suffrages  of  the  people  constituting  the  con 
gregations  respectively.  In  short,  a  popular  government  in  ecclesi 
astical  affairs,  in  which  the  will  of  the  majority,  regularly  expressed 
through  its  legally  constituted  agencies,  was  the  supreme  controlling 
power. 

I  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  people,  under  this  form  of 
church  government,  were  more  pious  or  orderly  in  their  daily  walk,  or 
that  their  ministers  were  any  more  correct  in  their  religious  teaching, 
or  more  faithful  in  their  sacred  calling,  than  they  had  been  under  the 
system  which  they  had  just  demolished  ;  but  it  can  be  safely  asserted 
that  its  effects  upon  the  destinies  of  the  English  speaking  people,  if 
not  ultimately  upon  those  of  the  general  mass  of  mankind,  are  beyond 
the  possibility  of  adequate  conception. 

We  may  admit,  if  you  please,  that  its  laity  for  generations  were 
left  to  grovel  in  the  lowest  depths  of  ignorance,  superstition  and  vice, 
while  its  clergy  were  narrow-minded,  grasping,  tyrannical,  insolent, 
intolerant  and  cruel.  We  may  concede  all  that  its  most  malignant 
enemy  has  said  in  denunciation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot 
land  for  more  than  a  century  after  its  establishment,  and  even  agree 
that  the  colors  in  which  the  repulsive  picture  has  been  drawn  should 
have  been  ten-fold  darker.  Yet  its  influence  in  promoting  the  spirit 
of  democracy,  which  lingered  in  the  Scottish  heart  from  the  rudest 
ages  of  its  savage  independence,  will  entitle  it  to  the  highest  meed  of 
gratitude  and  admiration  as  long  as  human  liberty  has  a  votary  among 
men.  We  not  only  find  in  it  the  germ  of  our  own  free  institutions 
and  the  original  type  of  our  own  magnificent  form  of  civil  govern 
ment,  but  the  sacred  flame  from  which  the  beacon  fires  of  freedom 
have  been  kindled  every-where.  It  spurned  with  bitter  contempt  the 
impious  pretensions  of  princes,  and  taught  the  true  dignity  of  man. 
Its  very  existence  was  a  perpetual  rebuke  to  every  claim  of  hereditary 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.  PROCTOR   KNOTT.  83 

power,  and  a  constant  illustration  of  the  great  truth  that  men  are  ca 
pable  of  governing  themselves.  The  choice  of  its  official  agencies  by 
the  free  suffrage  of  the  congregation  was  a  practical  assertion  of  the 
vital  principle  underlying  all  republican  institutions,  that  "  govern 
ments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed," 
while  its  presbyteries  and  assemblies  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the 
will  of  popular  majorities  can  be  conveniently  and  safely  exercised 
through  their  own  chosen  representatives. 

But  if  mankind  is  thus  deeply  indebted  to  the  mere  passive  example 
of  the  Scottish  church,  how  much  more  is  due  to  the  intrepid  zeal  and 
tireless  vigilance  of  its  clergymen  in  the  darkest  period  of  its  history. 
To  show  this,  I  have  but  to  use  the  words  of  a  distinguished  English 
writer,  who  delighted  to  excoriate  their  faults  with  the  burning  lash 
of  indignant  denunciation:  "Much  they  did  to  excite  our  strongest 
aversion ;  but  one  thing  they  achieved  which  should  make  us  honor 
their  memory  and  repute  them  the  benefactors  of  their  species.  At  a 
most  hazardous  moment  they  kept  alive  the  spirit  of  national  liberty. 
What  the  nobles  and  the  crown  had  put  in  peril,  that  did  the  clergy 
save.  By  their  care  the  dying  spark  was  kindled  into  a  blaze.  When 
the  light  grew  dim  and  flickered  on  the  altar,  their  hands  trimmed  the 
lamp  and  fed  the  sacred  flame.  This  is  their  real  glory,  and  on  this 
they  may  well  repose.  They  were  the  guardians  of  Scotch  freedom, 
and  they  stood  to  their  posts.  Where  danger  was  they  were  foremost. 
By  their  sermons,  by  their  conduct,  both  public  aud  private,  by  the 
proceedings  of  their  assemblies,  by  their  bold  and  frequent  attacks 
upon  persons,  without  regard  to  their  rank,  nay,  even  by  the  very  in 
solence  with  which  they  treated  their  superiors,  they  stirred  up  the 
minds  of  men,  woke  them  from  their  lethargy,  formed  them  to  habits 
of  discussion,  and  excited  that  inquisitive  and  democratic  spirit  which 
is  the  only  effectual  guaranty  the  people  can  possess  against  the  tyranny 
of  those  who  are  set  over  them.  This  was  the  work  of  the  Scotch 
clergy,  and  all  hail  to  them  who  did  it.  It  was  they  who  taught  their 
countrymen  to  scrutinize  with  a  fearless  eye  the  policy  of  their  rulers. 
It  was  they  who  pointed  the  finger  of  scorn  at  kings  and  nobles,  and 
laid  bare  the  hollowness  of  their  pretensions.  They  ridiculed  their 
claims  and  jeered  at  their  mysteries.  They  tore  the  veil  and  exposed 
the  tricks  of  the  scene  which  lay  behind.  The  great  ones  of  the 
earth  they  covered  with  contempt,  and  those  who  were  above  them  they 
cast  down.  Herein  they  did  a  deed  which  should  compensate  for  all 
their  nilenses,  even  were  their  offenses  ten  times  as  great.  By  discoun 
tenancing  that  pernicious  aud  degrading  respect  which  meu  are  apt  to 
pay  to  those  whom  accident,  aud  not  merit,  has  raised  above  them, 


84  THE  SCOTCH- IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

they  facilitated  the  growth  of  a  proud  and  sturdy  independence,  which 
was  sure  to  do  good  service  at  a  time  of  need." 

The  seeds  thus  sown  from  the  pulpits  and  assemblies  of  the  Scotch 
church  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  not  only  produced  an 
ample  harvest  from  the  rugged  but  congenial  soil  upon  which  they  fell, 
but  were  cherished  in  the  bosoms  of  the  Scottish  people,  who  carried 
them  to  other  lands,  where  they  brought  forth  abundant  fruits, 
to  the  dismay  and  ultimate  overthrow  of  those  who  threatened  their 
liberties. 

Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  English  crown,  King  James  I.,  true 
to  the  instincts  of  the  most  perfidious  family  that  ever  disgraced  the 
throne  of  a  civilized  people,  having  secured  the  flight  and  outlawry  of 
the  earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  upon  a  cunningly  devised  pretext 
of  some  treasonable  conspiracy  between  them,  seized  upon  their  vast 
estates,  comprising  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  acres  in  the  fertile 
province  of  Ulster,  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  upon  which  he  commenced 
the  plantation  of  a  Scotch  and  English  colony  in  the  year  1609. 

The  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  favorable  terms  upon  which  it  was 
proposed  tc  be  let  to  immigrants,  and  the  advantages  offered  to  them 
by  a  variety  of  other  circumstances,  soon  lured  a  number  of  his 
countrymen  to  this  promising  plantation,  whither  they  were  followed 
from  time  to  time  by  others  of  their  kindred  until  they  became  event 
ually  the  predominant  element  throughout  the  province.  Thus  were 
the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Scots  brought  back  to  the  identical 
scenes  from  which  their  savage  ancestry  had  emigrated  nearly  two 
thousand  years  before ;  and  thus  originated  the  name  Scotch-Irish. 

But  notwithstanding  the  suffix  to  their  national  patronymic,  the 
irreconcilable  difference  in  religion  between  them  and  the  native  in 
habitants,  together  with  other  prejudices  naturally  resulting  from  their 
peculiar  relations  to  each  other,  presented  such  an  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  a  coalition  of  the  two  races  that  the  colonists  and  their  descendants 
for  generations,  if,  indeed,  they  have  not  to  the  present  time,  remained 
thoroughly  Scotch  in  all  their  leading  characteristics.  They  carried 
with  them  to  their  new  homes  not  only  the  personal  traits  peculiar  to 
their  race,  but  its  political  and  religious  prejudices  as  well  as  its  ecclesi 
astical  polity.  They  built  their  churches,  organized  their  presbyteries, 
established  their  schools,  and  pursued  their  respective  callings  with  a 
thrifty  industry  which  soon  transformed  the  province  of  Ulster  from 
the  wildest  and  most  disorderly  to  the  best  cultivated  and  most  pros 
perous  portion  of  Ireland. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  they  were  permitted  to 
enjoy  any  very  protracted  period  of  repose  during  the  century  and  a 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.  PROCTOR   KNCTT.  85 

half  immediately  following  their  advent  into  Ulster.  Whether  the  en 
forced  flight  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  and  the  subsequent  confiscation 
of  their  estates  were  justifiable  or  not,  such  circumstances  were  natu 
rally  calculated  to  incite  the  deepest  indignation  of  their  neighbors,  re 
tainers,  kindred,  and  friends,  even  granting  them  to  have  been  less 
passionate  and  turbulent  than  we  have  reason  to  believe  they  were  at 
that  period  of  Irish  civilization.  We,  ourselves,  with  all  our  moral 
culture  and  Christian  refinement,  could  but  feel  an  insuperable  repug 
nance  to  a  colony  of  strangers,  differing  from  us  in  politics  and  re 
ligion,  thrust  by  the  government  into  our  midst  against  our  wills,  and 
placed  in  possession  of  the  property  of  our  leading  citizens,  forced  to 
flee  from  their  homes  to  save  their  lives,  upon  a  charge  which  we  be 
lieve  to  be  riot  only  unjust,  but  unfounded.  It  is  not  surprising,  there 
fore,  that  the  animosity  of  the  native  inhabitants  toward  their  new 
neighbors  should  manifest  itself  in  repeated  and  bloody  deeds  of  vio 
lence. 

But  little  more  than  five  years  had  elapsed,  indeed,  before  a  con 
spiracy  was  detected,  which  is  said  to  have  had  for  its  object  the  seiz 
ure  of  the  British  fortresses  and  the  extirpation  of  the  foreign  settlers 
in  the  province.  And  in  less  than  three  decades  later,  the  jealousies 
and  enmities  growing  out  of  the  plantation  of  the  colony  showed 
themselves  in  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  tragedies  that  ever  stained 
the  annals  of  a  civilized  land,  in  which  the  Scots  in  Ulster  were  treated 
with  the  most  diabolical  cruelty,  which,  in  turn,  was  retaliated  by  a 
fearful  and  ferocious  revenge. 

They  fared  but  little  worse,  if  any,  at  the  hands  of  their  hostile 
neighbors,  however,  than  at  those  of  the  government,  under  whose 
patronage  they  had  settled  in  their  new  homes.  Presbyterian  and 
Papist  alike  were  disfranchised  by  its  infamous  test  oaths,  which 
neither  could  conscientiously  take,  and  both  were  punished  with  the 
same  relentless  rigor  for  non-conformity.  Their  houses  of  worship  were 
repeatedly  closed,  their  congregations  dispersed,  their  members  perse 
cuted,  and  th,e  people,  irrespective  of  age  or  sex,  tendered  an  oath  re 
pugnant  alike  to  their  judgments  and  their  consciences.  Yet  the 
young  and  more  intrepid  leaders  of  the  Scottish  church  assembled 
their  flocks  at  noon-day  in  the  open  fields,  and  in  secluded  chambers 
in  the  small  hours  of  the  night,  in  vast  crowds,  and  in  little  groups, 
every-where  denouncing  the  tyranny  under  which  they  languished, 
and  exciting  their  hearers  to  a  more  enthusiastic  pitch  of  sectarian 
zeal.  It  is  true,  there  were  periods  in  which,  by  special  indulgence  or 
through  official  indifference,  they  were  permitted  to  worship  in  their 
own  chosen  way ;  yet  it  is  easy  to  see  how  even  an  occasional  interfer- 


86  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

ence  with  that  cherished  privilege  increased  their  attachment  to  their 
church,  while  it  fed  their  hereditary  hatred  to  the  English  crown,  and 
made  them  hail  with  supreme  satisfaction  the  downfall  of  the  detesta- 
We  dynasty  of  the  Stuarts. 

Among  the  scenes  which  closed  the  ignoble  career  of  the  last  of 
that  disreputable  house,  there  was  one  which  not  only  exhibited  the 
leading  traits  of  the  Scotch-Irish  character  in  the  strongest  possible 
light,  but  which  will  challenge  the  admiration  of  mankind  as  long  as 
our  language  shall  be  spoken,  or  the  memory  of  heroic  deeds  cherished 
among  the  children  of  men.  On  the  second  day  after  his  arrival  in 
the  city  of  Dublin,  with  a  body  of  foreign  mercenaries  at  his  heels, 
the  cowardly  fugitive  from  the  British  throne  signalized  his  return  to 
the  territory  of  his  lost  dominion  by  issuing  a  proclamation  to  his 
former  subjects  of  the  Catholic  faith,  gratefully  acknowledging  their 
vigilance  and  fidelity,  and  enjoining  such  of  them  as  had  not  already 
taken  up  arms  in  his  service,  to  hold  them  in  readiness  until  it  should 
be  found  necessary  to  use  them  to  his  advantage,  and  by  conferring 
the  ducal  rank  upon  Tyrconnel,  who  had  disarmed  the  Protestants 
throughout  a  large  portion  of  Ireland,  and  assembled  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  foot  and  eight  thousand  horse  for  the  assistance  of  his 
fallen  master. 

These,  with  other  circumstances,  gave  rise  to  wild  and  exciting 
rumors,  which  rapidly  spread  throughout  the  province  of  Ulster,  to 
the  effect  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  desperate  Stuart  to  extirpate 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  re-establish  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
church  by  fire  and  sword.  The  effect,  especially  among  the  Scottish 
population,  may  be  easily  imagined.  Their  ministers  were  every-where 
heard  exhorting  the  people,  in  words  of  rude  but  burning  eloquence, 
to  arise  in  defense  of  their  faith  and  their  firesides ;  while  their  women 
adjured  them,  by  all  ths  sacred  associations  of  the  family  tie,  to  defend 
themselves  and  their  homes  with  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 

The  grim  courage  and  determined  self-reliance  of  their  race  were 
thoroughly  aroused,  their  religious  enthusiasm  excited,  and  their  un 
dying  animosity  to  papal  power  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch  of  frenzy. 
Betrayed  by  their  governor,  abandoned  by  the  commanders  of  the 
small  force  which  had  been  sent  by  the  government  for  their  protec 
tion,  with  no  military  experience  themselves,  and  but  a  limited  supply 
of  the  munitions  of  war,  they  improvised  an  army  of  seven  thousand 
men,  with  one  of  their  preachers,  assisted  by  a  couple  of  faithful  and 
courageous  officers  of  the  king's  service,  at  its  head,  and  hastily  en 
trenched  themselves  behind  the  fortifications  of  Londonderry,  where, 
for  one  hundred  and  five  days,  they  withstood  a  siege  in  which  they 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.    PROCTOR  KNOTT.  87 

exhibited  a  sublimity  of  courage  and  fortitude  without  a  parallel  in 
human  history  since  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  before  the  conquering  arms 
of  Titus  Vespasian. 

After  more  than  three  months  of  continuous  battle,  aggravated 
by  the  horrors  of  disease  and  famine,  during  which  their  heroic 
women,  often  with  weapons  in  their  hands,  stood  side  by  side  with 
their  brave  defenders  in  every  scene  of  danger  and  distress,  the  mem 
orable  contest  around  the  walls  of  Londonderry  was  brought  to  a  close 
with  eight  thousand  of  its  besiegers  slain  and  more  than  half  its  de 
voted  garrison  in  their  graves.  But  George  Walker,  the  faithful  pas 
tor  of  Donaghmore,  whose  pious  eloquence  inspired  the  spiritual 
fervor  of  his  brethren  from  the  pulpit,  and  whose  genius  and  courage 
directed  their  perilous  duties  on  the  ramparts  and  in  the  sortie,  sur 
vived  the  siege,  and,  bidding  adieu  to  the  shattered  fragment  of  his 
command,  now  worn  by  disease  and  wasted  by  famine,  followed  the 
fortunes  of  William  of  Orange  to  the  bloody  banks  of  the  Boyne, 
where  he  fell,  side  by  side  with  the  Duke  of  Schomberg  and  Caille- 
mote,  the  heroic  Huguenot. 

But  the  Scottish  Presbyterians,  whose  deeds  in  the  heroic  defense 
of  Londonderry  resemble  more  the  fabled  exploits  of  Homeric  fiction 
than  the  transactions  of  modern  warfare,  fared  but  little  better  at  the 
hands  of  the  new  government  than  the  Irish  Catholics  who  besieged 
it.  So  far  from  having  any  of  the  restrictions  upon  their  freedom  of 
religion  removed,  they  were  left  almost  as  completely  under  the  ban 
of  those  fatuous  and  despotic  enactments  in  derogation  of  religious 
liberty,  which  so  long  disgraced  the  jurisprudence  of  Great  Britain, 
as  their  neighbors  of  the  Roman  faith,  who  had  been  so  recently  in  re 
bellion  against  the  crown.  They  still  remained  under  the  denuncia 
tion  of  the  penal  laws  against  non-conformity,  without  even  a  legal 
toleration,  until  1720,  while  they  were  excluded  from  all  offices  of 
honor,  profit,  or  trust  under  the  government,  by  the  rigorous  require 
ments  of  the  oath  of  supremacy,  and  the  still  more  obnoxious  provis 
ions  of  the  Test  Act,  until  1780. 

In  addition  to  these  irritating  circumstances,  they  were  subjected 
to  a  variety  of  vexatious  burdens,  which  influenced  large  numbers  of 
them  to  quit  the  provjnce  of  Ulster,  and  seek  more  peaceful  and  pro 
pitious  homes  in  the  colonies  of  America,  whither  they  brought  with 
them  an  undying  hatred  to  the  British  crown,  and  a  burning  desire 
for  some  suitable  opportunity  for  its  gratification.  That  opportunity 
was  soon  presented,  and  if  any  of  them  failed  to  avail  himself  of  it 
with  promptness  and  pleasure,  it  was  not  from  any  lack  of  in« 


88  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

clination,  but  because  he  was  prevented  by  circumstances  beyond  his 
control. 

They  came  often  in  groups  of  families,  neighbors,  perhaps,  in  the 
homes  they  had  left  in  Ulster,  and  located  themselves,  generally,  in 
the  colonies  of  Pennsylvania,,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  where,  as 
their  fathers  had  done  in  Ireland,  they  organized  their  congregations, 
set  up  their  neighborhood  schools,  and  by  a  sedulous  attention  to  their 
own  affairs,  set  an  example  of  industry,  economy  and  morality,  the  in 
fluence  of  which  is  still  visible  in  the  intelligence,  thrift,  refinement 
and  orderly  deportment  which  distinguish  the  communities  in  which 
they  settled. 

The  part  played  by  this  remarkable  race  in  preparing  the  popular 
mind  of  their  adopted  country  for  independence,  as  well  as  in  the 
bloody  contest  which  terminated  in  that  glorious  result,  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  overestimate.  Whether  the  Mecklen 
burg  declaration  was  really  the  work  of  Ephraim  Brevard  and  his  asso 
ciates,  or  only  the  clever  after  thought  of  some  obscure  person  whose 
name  history  has  failed  to  record,  it  embodied  the  cherished  sentiments 
of  every  genuine  Scotch-Irishman  in  America.  The  tide  of  immigra 
tion  which  brought  them  to  our  shores  set  in  near  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  reached  its  flood  near  the  period  when  Washington  and  many  of 
his  illustrious  compatriots  were  b>)rn,  and  continued  without  retiring  ebb 
until  the  final  break  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
Wherever  they  went,  they  repeated,  with  feelings  of  bitter  hate,  the 
story  of  their  wrongs,  and  taught  by  precept  and  by  example,  in  sea 
son  and  out  of  season,  the  sublime  doctrine  of  civil  and  religious  free 
dom  which  had  been  burned  into  their  very  souls  by  generations  of 
cruelty  and  oppressions.  Wherever  they  went  they  transfused  the 
community  around  them  with  their  own  deathless  spirit  of  democracy ; 
and  when  the  tocsin  sounded  for  the  mighty  struggle,  they  sprang  to 
the  front  and  offered  their  blood  as  a  joyous  oblation  to  the  God  of 
battles  upon  the  altars  of  their  faith.  They  craved  none  of  the  Dead 
Sea  fruit  of  a  selfish  ambition  ;  they  sought  none  of  the  barren  laurels 
of  an  empty  fame.  They  were  plain,  earnest,  determined  men,  who 
wanted  results — results  which  would  secure  to  their  children  and  their 
children's  children,  the  priceless  patrimony  of  freedom — and  for  that 
they  rushed  to  the  fiery  front  of  battle,  reckless  as  to  who  might  lead 
them  so  he  led  to  victory  or  to  death. 

Would  you  know  their  names  ?  In  every  walk  of  private  useful 
ness  and  public  honor  ;  in  every  avenue  of  active  enterprise  and  popu 
lar  progress;  in  every  department  of  literature,  and  in  every  branch 
of  science  ;  in  every  theater  of  honorable  ambition ;  in  the  pulpit  and 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.  PROCTER   KNOTT.  89 

at  the  bar ;  on  the  field  and  in  the  cabinet,  on  the  bench  and  in  the 
halls  of  legislation ;  in  the  chambers  of  our  highest  courts,  and  in  the 
presidential  chair,  they  and  their  sons  have  written  them  in  imperish 
able  characters  upon  the  brightest  pages  of  our  country's  history.  Go 
read  them  there. 

The  children  of  the  race  are  now  scattered  throughout  all  this 
broad  continent,  mingling  like  drops  of  water  in  the  mighty  ocean, 
with  a  vast  and  wondrous  people  gathered  from  many  lands;  but 
wherever  they  may  be,  they  and  their  descendants  will  cherish  with 
affectionate  veneration  the  honor  of  their  ancient  sires,  and  keep  the 
sacred  fires  of  family  love  brightly  burning  on  their  domestic  altars  as 
long  as  a  drop  of  the  old  Scotch-Irish  blood  shall  trickle  through  their 
veins;  and  should  the  grasping  hand  of  consolidated  wealth,  the  wild 
fury  of  communism,  or  the  insolence  of  foreign  power  ever  menace  the 
fair  fabric  of  constitutional  liberty  erected  by  their  fathers,  they  will 
rush  to  its  defense,  with  the  same  intrepid  devotion  with  which  their 
rude  ancestors  followed  the  slogan  of  the  clan. 


90  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 


WHAT    THE    SCOTCH-IRISH     HAVE    DONE 
FOR  EDUCATION. 

BY  Q.  MACLOSKIE,  D.SC.,  LL.D.,  PROFESSOR  OF   BIOLOGY   IN  PRINCETON   COLLEGE. 

The  close  alliance  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  dates  from  the  time 
of  St.  Patrick,  who  died  in  A.  D.  465.  He  appears  to  have  been  edu 
cated  in  the  southern  part  of  Scotland,  and  he  preached  the  Gospel 
and  established  religious  houses  in  Ireland.  His  monasteries  were  not 
the  homes  of  lazy  monks,  but  seats  of  learning  and  centers  of  mission 
ary  effort.  They  resembled  the  schools  of  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  were  repeated  in  the  last  century  in  the  log  colleges 
of  America.  The  early  Irish  monks,  many  of  them  married  men, 
were  zealous  students  and  copyists  of  Scripture,  and  enthusiastic  itin 
erant  preachers.  An  old  tradition  says  that  one  of  them,  St.  Brendin, 
discovered  the  new  world,  and,  after  returning  to  Ireland  to  report  his 
discovery,  he  set  sail  a  second  time  (in  the  year  545),  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  natives  of  the  newly  discovered  land.  He  was  never 
heard  of  again,  but  his  name  is  immortalized  by  a  bay  on  the  west  of 
Ireland,  from  which  he  is  said  to  have  sailed.  Another  tradition  asso 
ciates  colonists  from  the  north  of  Ireland  with  Scandinavians  as  the 
first  settlers  of  Iceland,  which  became  a  home  of  learning. 

Two  men  from  Ulster,  both  bearing  the  name  of  Columba,  be 
came  missionaries  of  learning  and  religion,  one  in  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  the  other  in  continental  Europe.  One  of  them  Columba,  or 
Columbkille,  from  County  Donegal,  in  west  Ulster,  established  the  re 
ligious  house  at  lona,  an  island  west  of  Scotland,  and  himself  and  his  dis 
ciples  carried  the  Gospel  over  Scotland  and  into  the  north  of  England. 
Hence  arose  the  Culdees,  or  worshipers  of  God,  who  cherished  the 
Gospel  in  the  homes  of  Scotland  even  in  the  dark  ages ;  and  their  de 
scendants  quickly  responded  to  John  Knox  when,  at  a  later  age,  like 
Columbkille  resurrected,  he  preached  Christ  to  his  beloved  Scotla-ud. 
Lindisfarne,  in  the  north  of  England,  was  a  fruit  of  the  work  of  the 
Culdees;  and  it  has  been  lately  found  that  the  Lindisfarue  Illuminated 
Gospel,  kept  in  the  British  Museum,  and  long  supposed  to  be  a  gem 
of  Anglo-Saxon  learning,  is  an  Irish  work,  probably  penned  by  some 
English  student  in  one  of  the  celebrated  Irish  schools. 

The  other  Columba  came  from  a  school  in  County  Down,  on  the 


WHAT   THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   HAVE   DONE   FOK   EDUCATION.  91 

eastern  coast  of  Ulster,  and  went  as  a  missionary  to  Eastern  France 
and  Switzerland,  where  he  is  better  known  by  the  name  of  Columbanus. 
His  biography  has  been  recently  discovered  in  the  civic  archives  of 
Schaffhausen,  in  Switzerland,  written  in  the  pure  ancient  Celtic  lan 
guage,  and  has  given  an  impetus  to  the  study  of  that  language.  One 
of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland  commemorates  by  its  name  (St.  Gallen, 
Irish  county}  these  old  Irish  missionaries,  members  of  the  genuine 
Clan-na-Gael.  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany  (A.  D.  738),  be 
longed  to  them ;  and  he  and  other  Scotch-Irish  missionaries  established 
religious  houses,  among  them  the  monastery  of  Erfurt,  where  Luther, 
at  a  later  date,  found  the  Reformation  in  a  Latin  Testament.  Thus, 
by  easy  steps,  we  go  from  St.  Patrick  to  loua  and  the  Culdees  and 
Knox  in  Scotland,  and  to  Switzerland,  with  its  Zwingle  and  Geneva, 
and  to  Germany  and  Luther.  Germany,  which  now  leads  the  world 
in  scholarship,  was  content  to  receive  its  first  schools  from  humble 
Scotch-Irish  itinerants. 

The  quality  of  the  teaching  of  those  times  may  be  estimated  from 
the  Confession  of  St.  Patrick,  from  the  love  generally  shown  for  the 
Scriptures,  and  from  the  Commentary  on  Scripture  of  Sedulius,  abbot 
of  Kildare,  in  Ireland,  ninth  century.  Pure  Gospel  is  found  in  these 
writings,  without  any  hint  of  a  pope,  and  Sedulius  praises  Paul  for  his 
censure  of  Peter,  and  gives  an  evangelical  interpretation  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  A  traveling  Irish-Scot,  named  Ferghil  (or  Virgil)  taught 
that  the  world  is  globular,  and  that  the  further  side  is  probably  inhab 
ited.  He  was  summoned  before  the  pope  for  such  teaching,  but  es 
caped  the  fate  of  heretics.  Johannes  Scotus  Erigeua  (which  name 
may  be  interpreted  as  Scotch-Irish  John)  gave  the  celebrated  repartee 
to  Charles  the  Bald,  who  asked  him  across  the  table,  "John,  what  is 
the  difference  between  a  Scot  and  a  sot?"  and  was  promptly  answered, 
"  Nothing  whatever,  please  your  majesty,  except  the  table." 

Another  tradition  awards  to  St.  Comgall's  school,  at  Bangor,  in 
County  Down,  the  alma  mater  of  Columbanus,  the  additional  honor  of 
supplying  Alfred  the  Great  with  the  first  batch  of  professors  for  Oxford 
University,  in  England,  as,  at  a  later  date,  Scotland  gave  its  first  pro 
fessors  to  Dublin  University,  in  Ireland,  and  as  many  of  our  American 
colleges  have  been  started  by  Scotch-Irish  ministers. 

The  twelfth  century  brought  in  the  age  of  darkness  to  Ireland. 
In  1110,  the  Irish  Synod  of  Rathbreasil  sold  their  religious  independ 
ence  to  an  Italian  pontiff,  and,  within  the  same  century,  the  Italian 
pontiff  bargained  away  its  civil  independence  to  a  dissolute  English 
monarch,  in  return  for  a  promise  of  payment  of  Peter's  pence.  Thus 
a  double  servitude,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  was  imposed  on  the 


92  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMERICA. 

country,  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  potentates  sometimes  quarreling, 
sometimes  courting  each  other,  but  always  oppressing  the  people.  In 
1315,  Edward  Bruce,  the  brother  of  Scotland's  hero,  endeavored  to 
free  Ireland  from  the  English  ;  but  the  church  excommunicated  him, 
and  he  lost  his  life  in  the  struggle.  During  the  dark  ages,  schools  dis 
appeared  from  Ireland,  and  the  only  men  who  perpetuated  its  reputa 
tion  for  learning  were  such  as  spent  their  days  abroad  at  the  courts  of 
F-uropean  monarchs.  Ireland  then  became  a  good  country  to  leave. 
So  low  had  it  sunk,  that  the  Reformation,  which  stirred  other  nations, 
was  scarcely  felt  there.  Even  the  Bible  had  become  forgotten ;  yet, 
when  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  York  presented  two  fine 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  two  cathedrals  of  Dublin,  the  people 
welcomed  the  gifts  and  eagerly  studied  the  books. 

The  Reformation  in  Scotland  was  the  outcome  chiefly  of  university 
scholarship.  Men  with  the  training  and  spirit  of  Columbkille — such 
mi'u  as  Patrick  Hamilton,  George  Wishart,  John  Knox,  and  Andrew 
Melville — revived  the  times  of  the  Culdees,  and  Scotland,  the  poorest 
of  the  nations,  soon  took  a  leading  position  for  scholarship  and  piety. 

Early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  north  of  Ireland  was  va 
cated  by  turbulent  chiefs,  and  Scotchmen  were  invited  to  enter  and 
lend  a  helping  hand  in  its  civilization.  That  was  an  age  of  religious 
persecution,  even  among  Protestants.  It  was  the  time  at  which  pious 
Non-conformists  were  driven  from  England,  first  to  Holland,  and 
afterward,  in  the  Mayflower,  to  America,  in  quest  of  liberty  to  pray 
to  God.  At  first,  the  king  of  England  encouraged  Scots  to  migrate 
to  Ireland  with  a  prospect  of  religious  liberty.  This  "  plantation  of 
Ulster"  was  the  counterpart,  in  some  measure,  of  the  emigration  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers;  but  the  Scotch  took  nearly  a  century  in  moving 
from  Scotland  by  way  of  Ireland  to  America,  and  they  had  to  pass 
through  a  hot  fire  in  the  transit,  and  to  come  out,  not  as  Scots,  but  as 
Scotch-Irish,  with  new  experiences  and  new  characteristics. 

Though  the  "plantation  of  Ulster"  by  Scotch  immigrants  was 
numerically  a  small  affair,  only  a  million  of  acres  being  open  to  colo 
nization,  and  not  half  of  these  falling  to  the  newcomers,  yet  a  com 
plete  change  of  habits  and  mode  of  cultivation  ensued,  and  the  entiie 
province  felt  the  benefit  of  the  change.  The  men  who  came  from 
Scotland  were  many  of  them  the  "  floaters,"  of  bad  principles  and  a 
coarse  type,  and  they  intermingled  with  semi-savage  natives.  There 
came  over,  however,  along  with  them,  the  religious  and  educational 
methods  of  Scotland.  John  Kuox  had  established  a  system  of  schools, 
so  that  every  minister  had  a  hand  in  teaching  during  some  part  of  his 
career,  and  every  boy,  however  poor,  had  before  him  the  opportunity 


WHAT   THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   HAVE   DONE   FOR  EDUCATION.  93 

of  gaining  education  up  to  his  ability.  The  church  and  the  school 
went  together,  as  both  of  the  people  and  for  the  people.  James  Mel 
ville  (nephew  of  Andrew)  informs  us  that,  at  one  of  these  schools,  in 
Montrose,  Scotland,  he  was  instructed  by  a  Christian  minister,  who 
was  "a  guid,  kind,  learned  man,"  in  the  three  important  subjects  of 
a  boy's  education,  (1)  book  learning,  (2)  religion,  (3)  athletics.  He 
learned  Latin  and  French ;  also,  archery,  swimming,  fencing,  and 
jumping;  and  his  piety  grew  with  the  discipline  of  the  school.  In 
Scotland,  this  educational  system  culminated  in  the  great  universities, 
that  of  Edinburgh  being  itself  a  child  of  the  Reformation. 

The  religious  history  of  Ulster  begins  with  the  ministrations  of  a 
few  immigrant  Scottish  ministers,  some  of  them  men  of  noble 
blood,  who  had  to  flee  from  persecution,  and  who  were  for  a  time  per 
mitted  to  occupy  the  churches  in  Ulster.  In  1636,  a  great  religious 
awakening  took  place,  which  spread  among  all  classes,  Roman  Catho 
lics  as  well  as  Protestants,  and  transformed  the  province.  There  was 
hope  of  times  of  blessing  coming  to  all  Ireland,  when,  as  usual,  the 
English  government  stepped  in  to  interrupt  the  work  by  persecuting 
the  ministers  and  people  for  non-conformity.  What  is  known  in  his 
tory  as  the  Black  Oath  was  enforced  in  Ulster,  people  being  fined  and 
imprisoned  for  failing  to  swear  obedience  to  the  king  in  all  things,  and 
ministers  being  silenced  or  banished.  Thereafter  followed  a  long 
series  of  religious  oppressions  in  Ireland ;  and  these  persecutions  sub 
sequently  followed  the  Scotch-Irish  to  America. 

The  colonization  of  Ulster  from  Scotland  brought  over  schools 
fashioned  after  the  Scottish  model,  but  without  the  civil  encourage 
ment  which  had  been  secured  by  Knox  for  "his  people.  The  Irish 
schools  were  private  schools,  often  of  an  humble  character.  Tho.se 
which  have  persisted  even  till  our  memory  were  conducted  by  pictur 
esque,  poor,  but  ofteu  enthusiastic  teachers,  who  were  remunerated  by 
sods  of  peat,  dishes  of  potatoes;  fresh  eggs  and  butter,  and  occasionally 
by  a  fat  goose  at  one  of  the  great  festivals.  The  scholars  would  go 
barefoot,  with  arms  out  at  the  elbows,  carrying  the  peat  under  one 
arm,  and  a  copy  of  an  old  arithmetic  or  Ovid's  Metamorphosis  under 
the  other.  No  Irish  colleges  welcomed  these  boys,  as  the  only  Irish 
university,  though  at  first  it  was  started  under  Scottish  teachers,  was 
soon  closed  against  their  characteristic  faith.  The  Scotch-Irish  lads, 
after  their  school  training  was  completed,  had  to  go  on  foot  to  the  sea 
side,  whence  they  embarked  on  a  packet  for  Scotland,  and  again  wi-nt 
afoot  in  groups  to  Glasgow  or  Edinburgh  University,  whence  they 
were  sent  back,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  with  the  university 
diploma.  On  returning,  they  were  trained  in  theology  under  the  su- 


94  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

pervision  of  the  presbytery.  Francis  Makemie,  the  father  of  Amer 
ican  Presbyterianism,  gives  us  an  account  of  his  own  education  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  At  a  school  in  County  Don 
egal,  he  experienced,  as  he  says,  "  a  work  of  grace  and  conversion  in 
my  heart  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  by  and  from  the  pains  of  a  godly 
schoolmaster,  who  used  no  small  diligence  in  gaining  tender  souls  to 
God's  service  and  fear."  His  theological  training  was  faithfully  super 
intended  by  the  presbytery,  though  it  was  not  permitted  to  hold  pub 
lic  meetings,  some  of  its  members  having  been  imprisoned  and  fined 
for  holding  a  session  of  presbytery.  Soon  afterward,  Non-conformists 
were  forbidden  to  teach  school.  Moreover,  the  Scottish  colonists  of 
Ulster  came  to  experience  extortions  by  landlords,  and  to  be  denied 
the  rights  of  freemen  in  the  country  for  which  they  had  done  so  much. 
In  Ireland,  as  in  America,  a  three-fold  struggle  for  liberty  had  to  be 
carried  on:  (1)  for  liberty  to  be  educated;  (2)  for  religious  liberty; 
(3)  for  civil  liberty. 

We  will  not  follow  the  struggle  as  it  went  on  in  Ulster.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  the  men  who  saved  England  by  closing  the  gates  of 
Perry,  were  robbed  of  the  honor  of  their  services,  were  afterward  de 
clared  unfit  to  hold  office  in  the  citv  which  they  had  defended, 
or  anywhere  under  the  British  crown ;  and  laws  were  passed  to 
destroy  their  woolen  trade,  to  make  their  marriages  null  and  their 
children  bastards,  and  to  deprive  them  of  Christian  burial ;  nor 
were  they  relieved  of  their  disabilities  until  the  rebellion  of  the 
American  colonies  taught  England  to  deal  gently  with  the  op 
pressed  at  home.  Step  by  step,  Ulster  has  fought  its  way  to  political 
equality,  to  protection  for  its  tenant  farmers,  to  religious  freedom,  and 
to  high  educational  rank.  Belfast,  at  present,  holds  the  third  place  in 
Great  Britain  as  a  seaport,  being  surpassed  in  the  tonnage  of  its  ship 
ping  only  by  London  and  Liverpool.  Ulster  is  i-emarkably  free  from 
crime,  and  has  few  police,  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  Ireland,  or 
even  England.  And  men  who  have  gone  from  Ulster,  with  the  edu 
cation  and  principles  of  the'  Scotch-Irish,  occupy  the  highest  positions  as 
teachers  or  statesmen  in  England,  India,  China,  Australia,  and  America. 

The  advent  of  the  Scotch-Irish  to  America  dates  from  the  time 
when  oppressions  became  unbearable  at  home;  especially  from  the  time 
of  James  II.  It  was  about  1683  that  Francis  Makemie.  arrived,  the 
first  Scotch-Irish  clergyman  whose  history  is  known  to  us.  He  was  put 
in  jail  in  New  York  city  for  the  crime  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  a 
private  house ;  and  he  defended  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  with  he 
roic  courage  and  legal  ability,  being  helped  by  a  Scottish  lawyer  from 
Philadelphia  (who  was  silenced  for  his  courage),  and  being  ultimately 


WHAT  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  HAVE  DONE  FOR  EDUCATION.  95 

acquitted  by  a  brave  New  York  jury.     Thus  was   begun  the  great 
struggle  for  religious  liberty  in  America. 

Some  of  the  immigrants  established  colonies  in  New  England,  as 
in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and  Maine.  In  1718  a  large  com 
pany  arrived  in  five  ships  at  Boston,  introducing  four  characteristic 
Scotch-Irish  institutions:  (1)  potatoes,  (2)  a  spinning-wheel,  (3)  a 
school  to  teach  even  the  Bostonians  how  to  spin,  (4)  a  Presbyterian 
minister  ready  at  once  to  form  them  into  an  organized  church.  This 
last  was  Rev.  John  Moorehead,  for  long  time  the  representative  of  the 
cause  in  Boston.  Other  churches  were  established,  as  at  Andover, 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  and  in  Maine. 

The  influx  of  this  class  into  Pennsylvania  soon  changed  the  char 
acter  of  the  middle  colonies.  The  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  during 
fifty  years  (1699  to  1749),  was  a  Scotch-Irish  Quaker,  James  Logan,  a 
native  of  county  Armagh,  Ireland,  an  able  judge,  a  patron  of  learn 
ing,  a  friend  of  the  Indians,  but  not  fond  of  his  own  countrymen  when 
they  were  not  Quakers.  He  feared  that  ere  long  they  would  turn 
matters  their  own  way.  "  It  looks  as  if  Ireland  were  to  send  all  her 
inhabitants  hither,"  was  his  complaint  in  1725;  "  if  they  will  con 
tinue  to  come,  they  will  make  themselves  proprietors  of  the  province;" 
and  he  condemned  the  bad  taste  of  people  who  were  forcing  them 
selves  where  their  presence  was  not  desired.  We  may  estimate  the 
rate  of  the  invasion  from  the  rise  of  the  population  of  Pennsylvania 
from  20,000  in  1701,  to  250,000  in  1749.  Shortly  before  the  revolu 
tionary  war,  a  new  outbreak  of  oppression  in  Ireland  sent  a  larger 
stream,  chiefly  of  farmers  and  manufacturers.  Most  of  these  men 
were  Presbyterians,  of  a  sturdy  spirit ;  they  sailed  in  search  of  liberty, 
and  they  were  the  earliest  and  most  persevering  of  our  people  in  our 
struggle  for  civil  liberty.  John  Stark,  who  had  fought  for  England 
against  the  French,  rushed,  when  the  great  struggle  came,  to  fight  for 
America  against  British  tyranny,  his  pious  Irish  wife,  by  her  letters, 
encouraging  him  in  what  she  said  was  God's  cause.  Richard  Mont 
gomery,  who  fell  at  Quebec,  was  Scotch  Irish,  as  was  the  other  Mont 
gomery,  who  presided  over  the  first  meeting  of  the  Scotch-Irish  in 
Cumberland  Valley,  where  resolutions  were  passed  for  independence, 
and  money  was  raised,  and  a  regiment  of  soldiers  soon  despatched  to 
aid  Washington  at  Boston.  This  regiment  was  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Chambers,  a  Scotch-Irish  elder.  Thomas  McKean,  another 
of  them,  was  one  of  the  fourteen  of  the  race  who  signed  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  and  was  governor  of  Pennsylvania  during  the 
great  struggle.  A  Scotch-Irishman  wrote,  another  publicly  read,  a 
third  first  printed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Joseph  Reed, 


96  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA, 

son  of  an  Irish  father,  himself  a  graduate  of  Princeton  college,  was  the 
trusted  secretary  of  Washington,  though  he  died  young.  It  was  he  that 
replied  to  king  George's  officers :  "I  am  not  worth  bribing,  but  such  as 
I  am,  Britain  is  not  rich  enough  to  buy  me."  Charles  Thomson,  from 
Maghera,  Ireland,  was  then  secretary  of  Congress,  "  the  man  of 
truth;  "as  the  proverb  ran,  "as  true  as  if  Charles  Thomson's  name 
were  to  it."  Henry  Kuox,  the  Scotch -Irish  bookseller  of  Boston,  was 
Washington's  efficient  chief  of  ordnance,  from  Ticonderoga  to  York- 
town.  The  Scotch  Irish  of  Philadelphia  and  of  Boston,  came  forward 
in  times  of  financial  embarrassment,  to  help  the  popular  cause  by  their 
contributions.  Scotch  Irish  pastors  were  foremost  in  their  patriotism. 
Rev.  John  Murray,  of  Maine,  and  David  Caldwell,  of  North  Caro 
lina,  were  honored  by  the  British  offering  rewards  for  the  capture  of 
either  of  them.  Dr.  George  Duffield,  an  excellent  cross  between  the 
Scotch-Irish  and  the  Huguenot,  said  from  the  pulpit  that  he  was  sorry 
to  see  so  many  able-bodied  men  at  church,  when  their  country  needed 
their  services  at  Valley  Forge.  In  those  days  it  was  an  offense  calling 
for  discipline  before  the  New  England  and  Pennsylvania  presbyteries, 
if  a  minister  did  any  thing  that  might  excite  suspicion  of  disloyalty  to 
his  country's  cause.  ; 

The  military  services  of  the  race,  at  first  against  the  French  and 
Indians,  and  afterward  on  behalf  of  independence  against  the  British, 
were  merely  an  incident  in  their  history.  Their  greatest  achievements 
were  in  peace,  with  the  axe,  the  plow,  and  the  loom,  clearing  the 
forest,  subduing  the  land,  and  developing  mechanical  arts  and  trade. 
Above  all  other  public  institutions,  they  loved  the  church  and  the 
school.  With  them  religion  and  education  were  inseparable  ;  no  re 
ligion  without  the  training  of  the  intelligence  ;  no  education  divorced 
from  piety.  The  school  was  always  planted  near  the  church,  the 
schoolmaster  was  often  the  pastor,  or  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  or 
one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church.  An  attempt  was  made,  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  to  exclude  non-conformists  from  the  office  of  teach 
ing;  nobody  was  to  teach  in  New  York  (at  least  of  the  English- 
speaking  people),  unless  provided  with  a  certificate  from  the  bishop  of 
London.  But  in  Pennsylvania  and  southward,  greater  liberty  was  al 
lowed,  at  least  as  to  common  schools.  The  present  condition  of  the 
middle  states  bears  testimony  to  the  use  made  of  this  liberty.  Whilst 
New  England  was  colonized  by  the  cream  of  old  England's  puritauism, 
and  Pennsylvania  only  a  century  later  by  the  outcasts  of  the  poor 
province  of  Ulster,  yet  the  progress  of  the  Keystone  State  may  compare 
with  the  vaunted  achievements  of  the  Plymouth  colony. 

The  man  to  whom,  above  all  others,  our  country  is  indebted  for 


WHAT  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  HAVE  DONE  FOR  EDUCATION.  97 

his  influence  on  its  education,  is  the  Rev.  William  Tennent,  founder 
of  the  log  college  at  Nesharniuy,  in  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  a  native  of  county  Armagh,  Ireland,  at  first  an  Episcopalian, 
probably  a  graduate  of  Trinity  college,  Dublin.  His  wife,  Catherine 
Kennedy,  was  the  worthy  daughter  of  an  Irish  Presbyterian  minister, 
who  had  suffered  persecution  for  his  faith.  They  came  to  America 
with  their  young  family,  in  1716,  and  ten  years  later  he  was  ordained 
and  settled  as  pastor  at  Neshaminy.  There  he  started  a  school  which 
aimed  to  be  a  college,  in  order  to  prepare  young  men  for  the  Christian 
ministry.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  hybrid  between  the  hedge  schools 
of  Ulster  and  Dublin  university,  with  poor  equipment  as  to  finances 
or  buildings,  called  in  derision  a  "  log  college,"  but  claiming  to  impart 
sound  classical,  philosophical,  and  theological  education.  This  insti 
tution  was  established  in  order  to  provide  a  home  supply  of  ministers, 
and  t'ie  men  who  issued  from  it  were  the  most  zealous  and  successful 
that  have  been  given  to  our  country.  It  was  opposed  by  worthy 
clergymen,  who  demanded  that  all  candidates  for  the  ministry  should 
produce  a  degree  from  one  of  the  older  universities,  that  is,  either 
trom  Yale  or  Harvard,  in  New  England,  or  from  Scotland.  But  the 
New  England  colleges  were  hostile  to  evangelical  religion.  Yale  had 
expelled  David  Brainerd,  really,  as  was  believed,  because  he  attended 
prayer-meeting,  and  formally  complained  because  after  its  censure, 
this  best  of  missionaries  was  ordained  by  a  presbytery.  It  was  pro 
nounced  in  its  hostility  to  revivals  of  religion.  Harvard  placed  itself 
on  record,  by  a  manifesto  signed  by  its  president  and  professors, 
against  George  Whitefield,  the  gravamen  of  his  sin  being  that  he 
preached  without  paper.  And  Governor  Belcher,  himself  a  graduate 
of  Harvard,  wrote  that  Arminiauism,  Arianism,  and  Socinianism  were 
being  propagated  in  the  New  England  colleges.  Thus  the  hope  of  se 
curing  a  supply  of  godly  ministers  from  New  England  was  futile. 
Nor  was  there  any  better  prospect  from  abroad.  Some  good  men  did 
come  over,  as  Francis  Makemie  and  William  Tennent.  But  in 
answer  to  the  entreaties  of  our  presbyteries  that  the  British  churches 
should  send  them  out  pastors,  most  of  those  who  came  were  "  crooked 
sticks."  One  was  sent  back  after  being  convicted  of  plagiarism,  and 
a  complaint  was  made  to  the  synod  of  Ulster,  for  imposing  on  the 
Americans  by  sending  bad  men.  Others  were  narrow  and  quarrel* 
some;  not  a  few  were  intemperate.  The  best  of  the  im  migrants  was. 
a  man  who  had  fled  from  a  charge  before  an  Irish  presbytery  of  forging 
his  credentials,  who  was  afterward  deposed  from  the  ministry  on  the 
same  charge  by  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  who  went  to  Maine, 
where  he  was  irregularly  restored  to  the  ministry  by  a  congregation, 
7 


98  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN  AMERICA. 

and  who  filled  a  long  and  devoted  ministry,  under  this  charge,  which 
he  never  dared  to  meet. 

In  such  circumstances  it  was  suicidal  to  depend  on  a  foreign  sup 
ply  of  ministers,  and  in  fact  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  New  Eng 
land,  by  continuing  in  a  dependent  condition,  prepared  the  way  for 
their  extermination.  Nor  could  the  Presbyterians  hope  for  a  college 
of  their  own  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  informed  that  no  college 
charter  would  be  granted  to  dissenters;  and  it  was  not  till  the  success 
of  the  log  colleges  was  assured,  that  a  charter  was  given,  in  an  irregu 
lar  way,  to  the  more  moderate  section  of  the  denomination,  for  Prince 
ton  college. 

The  attempt  to  train  young  men  for  the  ministry  in  the  Log  Col 
lege,  and  their  ordination  without  the  degree  of  a  chartered  university, 
though  sometimes  condemned  by  historians,  seems  to  us  to  have  been 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  by  the  church  for  the  right  to  train 
its  own  ministry.  The  charge  recently  made, that  Tennent  and  his 
friends  took  a  low  view  of  education  for  ministers,  may  be  met  by  the 
facts  that  they  gave  the  best  education  they  could  command,  that  so 
soon  as  Princeton  college  was  established,  they  rallied  to  its  support 
and  its  further  development,  and  that  the  alumni  of  the  log  colleges 
were  deemed  good  enough  in  scholarship  to  be  appointed  professors  or 
presidents  of  the  high-class  colleges  which  were  at  length  established. 
The  Log  College  preachers  have  also  been  condemned  for  venturing  to 
preach  within  the  precincts  of  ministers  who  opposed  revival  methods, 
but  their  conduct  in  this  respect  would  be  justified  with  us,  on  the 
ground  that  ministers  may  not  interpose  to  prevent  the  preach 
ing  of  salvation  to  sinners,  even  though  the  sinners  are  of  their 
own  flocks. 

Like  the  monasteries  of  St.  Patrick, 'Tennent's  Log  College  be 
came  a  home  of  learning  and  a  center  of  missionary  movements.  Be 
sides  William  Tenneut,  senior,  and  Mrs.  Tennent,  it  was  blessed  by 
worthy  disciples,  including  four  sons  of  its  founder.  One  of  these, 
Gilbert  Tennent,  may  be  named  along  with  George  Whitefield  and  (at 
a  later  date)  Bishop  Asbury,  as  the  three  men  who  were,  above  all 
others,  used  of  God  for  the  development  of  spiritual  religion  in  the 
New  World.  Besides  these,  there  were  Samuel  Finlay,  Samuel  and 
John  Blair,  John  Robinson,  John  Rowland,  and  Charles  Beatty.  The 
last  named  was  an  Irish  peddler,  who  offered  his  wares  in  elegant  Latin 
at  the  Log  College,  was  invited  in,  educated,  and  became  a  faithful 
preacher.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  devoted  men,  the  last  of  whom, 
Charles  Beatty,  of  Steubenville,  0.,  died  a  few  years  ago,  after  a  long 


WHAT   THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   HAVE  DONE   FOR   EDUCATION.  99 

service  as  missionary,  educator,  and  benefactor  of  the  Western  Theo 
logical  Seminary,  and  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  College. 

The  example  of  the  Tenuents  was  followed  by  other  Scotch-Irish 
pastors  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  southward.     Thus  a  number 
of  high-class  schools  were  established,  bringing  education  to  the  doors 
of  tlie  people,  independently  of  government.     The  office  of  teacher 
was  not  highly  esteemed  in  England  (it  was  apologized  for,  on  behalf 
of  John  Eliot,  that  he  was  in  early  life  a  teacher),  but  it  was  always 
appreciated  among  the  Scotch-Irish;  and  the  teachers  often  gave  their 
services  without  pay,  so  that  the  poorest  boy  might  be  educated  up  to 
his  capacity.     As  examples  of  these  institutions,  may  be  named  one 
at  Fagg's  Manor  (New  London,  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania),  estab 
lished  in  1790  by  Samuel  Blair,  one  of  Tennent's  pupils;  subsequently, 
under  Francis  Allison,  who  was  encouraged  in  his  work  by  the  Synod. 
Allison  afterward   removed  to  Philadelphia,  where   he  was  preacher 
and  teacher,  and  at  length  professor,  when  the  University  was  started. 
Nottingham  Academy,  in  Maryland,  was  established  by  Dr.  Samuel 
Finlay,  in  1744,  who  was  descended   from  John  Finlay,  one  of  the 
early  martyrs  burnt  at  the  stake  in  Scotland,  and  was  himself,  like 
nearly  all  the  other  founders  of  these  schools,  a  native  of  Ireland.    This 
academy  of  Nottingham  produced  some  of  our  greatest  men,  as  Gov 
ernor  Martin,  of  North  Carolina,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  Colonel  Bayanl, 
and  preachers  Waddell,  McWhorter,  etc.     Pequea  School,  in  Lancas 
ter  county,  Pennsylvania,  was  established  by  Robert  Smith,  one  of 
Teuuent's  disciples,  himself  Irish,  and  blessed  with  an  Irish  wife  (who 
was  sister  of  Robert  Blair).     His  son,  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  was 
another  great  educationist,  president  of  Hampden  Sydney,  and  after 
ward  of  Princeton  College  ;  remarkable  for  his  services  in  developing 
the  higher  studies  in   college.     His  brother,  John  Blair  Smith,  was 
successively  president  of  Hampden  Sydney  and  of  Schenectady  Col 
lege.     A  school  was  established  at  Newville,  in  the  Cumberland  valley, 
Pennsylvania,  by  John   Blair,  brother  of  Robert;  another  at  West 
Canococheague,  by  John  King.     Rev.  David  Caldwell,  in  North  Caro 
lina,  had  at  once  an  academy,  college,  and  theological  seminary,  and 
was  also  a  red-hot  patriot.     John  McMillan  went  out  to  the  wilds  of 
West  Pennsylvania,  where  he  established  a  church  and  a  log  college. 
Thaddeus  Dod  followed  his  example  at  Red  Stone,  in  South-western 
Pennsylvania,  and  John  Smith  started  another  school.     These  western 
institutions  afterward  developed  into  Washington  and  Jefferson  Col 
lege. 

The  humble  academies  gave  a  completion  to  our  education  before 
•we  were  blessed  with  colleges,  and  they  prepared  the  way  for  chartered 


100  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

institutions,  so  soon  as  these  could  be  obtained.  Immediately  on  the 
establishment  of  Princeton  College,  the  Tenneuts  gave  up  their  school 
at  Neshaminy,  and  bestowed  all  their  great  influence  toward  the  ad 
vancement  of  the  new  institution.  We  find  that,  in  1748,  the  roll  of 
trustees  of  Princeton  College  included,  with  others,  Gilbert  Tennent, 
William  Tennent  (the  younger,  his  father  having  died),  Richard  Treat, 
Samuel  Blair,  all  these  being  pupils  of  the  Log  College  and  earnest 
preachers;  and  we  find  Whitefield,  Lady  Huntington,  and  others  col 
lecting  money  for  Princeton  as  a  seat  of  learning  and  piety.  In  1756, 
the  year  in  which  Wesley's  friends  were  banished  from  Oxford  for 
holding  prayer-meetings,  Whitefield  was  invited  to  preach  in  Princeton, 
and  he  informs  us  of  a  revival  in  which  many  of  the  students  were 
converted.  Other  colleges  were  soon  founded  after  the  same  pattern. 
In  this  way  was  evolved  our  American  type  of  college,  as  seen  espe 
cially  in  our  middle  and  western  states,  homes  of  scholarship  and  relig 
ion,  independent  of  state  control,  yet  producing  patriotic  citizens  as 
well  as  ardent  students  and  Christian  heroes,  bringing  education  near 
to  the  people,  and  raising  the  poor  to  a  par  with  the  rich  in  respect  of 
scholarship.  We  cordially  respect  the  achievements  of  the  great  New 
England  colleges,  but  we  plead  that,  under  special  disabilities,  the 
Scotch-Irish  of  the  middle  states  have  fought  their  way  to  the  same 
results,  with  the  important  addition  that,  with  equal  zeal  for  learning, 
a  warmer  religious  tone  has  been  manifested  in  its  pursuit.  Our  col 
leges  have  received  the  significant  encomium  of  James  Bryce  in  his 
"American  Commonwealth."  He  remarks  that,  in  America,  we  de 
sire  to  have  our  business  men  furnished  with  college  education,  and 
adds  that  this  is  a  result  of  the  dispersion  of  colleges,  of  their  accessi 
bility,  and  the  cheapness  of  education ;  that  nearly  all  the  eminent 
men  of  the  last  forty  years,  including  several  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  have  taught  school  in  some  part  of  their  earlier  years  ;  and  that 
our  American  universities  are  at  this  moment  making  the  swiftest 
progress  and  have  the  brightest  promise  for  the  future.  This  praise 
comes  from  a  Scotch-Irishman,  the  first  Presbyterian,  we  believe,  who 
was  admitted  to  the  honors  of  Oxford  without  selling  his  conscience, 
who  afterward  became  a  professor  in  that  university,  and  is  now  com 
ing  to  the  front  as  one  of  England's  greatest  statesmen. 

Such  colleges  are  now  rapidly  extending  "over  our  own  .land. 
Even  to  the  golden  gate  of  California,  they  have  been  established  by 
Scotch-Irish  founders.  They  are  often  objects  of  benevolence  with  the 
pious,  and  themselves  nurseries  of  piety.  They  are  overflowing  into 
other  lands :  Roberts  College,  at  Constantinople,  is  giving  trouble  to 
Russian  as  well  as  Turkish  despotism  ;  Beyrout  College  is  becoming 


WHAT   TfTE   SCOTCH-IRISH   HAVE   DONE   FOR  EDUCATION.         101 

the  light  of  Western  Asia;  and  in  Pekin,  Canton,  and  Tokio,  similar 
lights  appear.  The  Imperial  University  of  Pekin  is  now  under  control 
of  Dr.  Martin,  one  of  our  American  missionaries,  with  the  aid  of  an 
international  faculty  of  educators,  so  that  the  whole  educational  sys 
tem  of  the  empire  is  being  changed.  Sir  Robert  Hart,  controller  of 
the  customs  system  of  China,  is  Scotch-Irish,  son  of  a  mill-worker  iu 
Belfast,  and  educated  under  Dr.  McCosh ;  and  John  McLeavy  Brown, 
his  coadjutor,  is  the  same.  We  hope,  ere  long,  to  see  another  of  these 
colleges  in  Brazil. 

We  can  not  venture  into  the  personnel  of  Scotch-Irish  educators  and 
inventors  of  recent  times,  as  in  theology  the  Alexanders  and  Hodges ; 
in  science,  Fulton  of  the  steam-engine,  McCormick  of  the  threshing 
machine,  Joseph  Henry  of  the  telegraph  and  electro-magnet.  In  bi 
ology,  the  chief  place  iu  Cambridge,  England,  and  in  Johns  Hopkins, 
of  America;  in  political  science,  the  chief  place  in  Princeton  College, 
and  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania — are  held  by  the  race,  as  are  a 
host  of  positions  of  varying  importance  over  the  whole  country,  such 
as  the  superintendents  of  public  schools  and  many  of  our  most  suc 
cessful  workers  in  the  higher  schools.  The  present  generation  of  the 
race  remember  their  traditions  as  devotees  of  learning ;  lovers  of  the 
country  that  shelters  them,  and  true  to  their  God  ;  and  they  find  in 
these  traditions  a  stimulus  to  their  enthusiasm.  There  is  a  continuity 
in  the  record  of  their  history,  as  there  is  a  community  between  the 
kinsmen  who  are  now  serving  as  educators  over  all  the  continent. 
And  hereby  are  we  taught  not  to  seek  for  ourselves  phenomenal  ac 
cumulations  of  wealth,  which  can  not  raise  us  to  a  higher  plane,  but 
to  cultivate  the  attainments  which  have  already  proved  a  blessing  to 
our  race,  and  which  have  made  them  a  wholesome  factor  in  human 
society. 


102  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 


SCOTCH-IRISH  CHARACTERISTICS. 

BY   REV.   JOHN    HALL,   D.D.,    OF   NEW   YORK, 

My  Fellow  Citizens,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen'.-  -I  can  not  give  expres 
sion  to  the  pleasure  that  I  feel  in  beiug  permitted  to  come  and  speak 
to  so  many  of  you,  and  in  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are  gathered 
together. 

I  shall  explain  to  you,  in  a  word  or  two,  the  purpose  that  is  before 
my  mind.  Many  months  ago,  I  received  a  communication  from  your 
friends  who  organized  this  society,  asking  me  to  come  and  take  part  in 
its  proceedings.  It  appeared  to  me  extremely  improbable  at  the  time 
that  I  could  accept  the  invitation  ;  and  I  took  the  liberty  of  naming 
an  alternate,  in  the  person  of  Dr.  Macintosh,  of  Philadelphia.  Ac 
cordingly,  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  come,  and,  properly  speak 
ing,  my  address  will  be  delivered  by  Dr.  Macintosh,  at  such  time  as 
the  committee  may  select. 

It  is  said  of  a  countryman  of  mine  who  settled  in  America,  that 
he  liked  it  so  well  that  he  resolved  to  make  it  his  native  land.  You 
smile  audibly  at  this  statement,  but,  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  the  very 
thing  that  Dr.  Macintosh  did.  He  came  over  to  Pennsylvania  to  be 
born,  then  went  back  to  Great  Britain  to  be  educated,  and  finally 
came  back  to  America,  and  has  done  nothing  but  honor  to  it  ever 
since.  (Applause.) 

I  do  not  propose,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  go  into  the  field  of  his 
tory  that  has  been  traversed  already,  and  that  will  be  traversed  again, 
with  so  great  ability.  It  is  the  story  of  a  marked  race.  We  all 
know  how  voluminous  the  authors  of  Germany  are.  One  of  them  pro 
posed  to  write  a  history  of  the  world,  and  he  set  about  the  task.  He 
completed  three  full  volumes  before  he  reached  the  creation.  (Laughter.) 
I  do  not  want  to  set  out  on  that  line,  but  rather  to  talk  to  you,  in  the 
simplest  and  most  informal  manner,  about  my  observations  among  the 
people  in  the  land  from  which  the  Scotch-Irish  came.  I  belong  to 
their  race.  I  am  of  the  sixth  generation  that  moved  over  from  Scot 
land  into  Ireland.  They  continued  to  live  upon  the  same  land,  and  I 
have  the  happiness  of  being  the  eldest  son  of  the  family,  and  of  hav 
ing  the  land  upon  which  my  ancestors  dwelt  for  the  six  generations; 
and  if  ever  you  hear  any  thing  spoken  in  the  way  of  calling  out  sym 
pathy  for  the  tenants  of  Ireland,  I  hope  you  will  extend  a  part  of  your 


SCOTCH-IRISH    CHARACTERISTICS.  103 

sympathy  to  me,  for  I  belong  to  that  category.  It  is  two  and  twenty 
years  since  I  left  Ireland  and  became  a  resident  of  these  United  States. 
Speaking  of  this  date  reminds  me  of  a  circumstance  that  may  interest 
some  of  you.  One  of  our  most  prominent  ministers,  Rev.  Dr.  Beatty, 
made  a  visit  to  Belfast  years  ago,  and  a  reception  was  tendered  him 
and  his  associates  by  the  town.  When  he  was  called  upon  to  speak, 
as  I  am  doiug  now,  he  came  upon  the  platform  and  said :  "  It  gives 
me  great  pleasure  to  be  back  here  among  my  people.  I  left  Ulster 
one  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago."  They  opened  their  eyes  widely,  for 
they  could  not  take  in  the  thought  that  he  was  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  old ;  but  he  explained  that  that  was  the  time  when  his  fore 
fathers  left  the  land  and  came  to  reside  in  America.  It  has  been 
twenty-two  years  since  I  left  that  land,  and,  though  I  can  say  that  I 
have  in  me  the  spirit  of  a  true  American  citizen,  I  have  not  lost  a 
particle  of  the  love  and  affection  that  I  cherish,  and  will  ever  cherish, 
for  the  people  of  my  own  native  Ulster.  (Applause.) 

When  I  was  in  Cincinnati,  in  1867,  being  sent  over  as  a  delegate 
to  this  country  to  the  meeting  of  the  general  assembly,  I  went  into  a 
church.  A  gentleman  was  sitting  by  me  in  the  audience,  and  was 
volunteering  information  to  me  about  things  that  were  going  on  around. 
My  eye  rested  upon  a  man  in  the  audience,  and  I  said  :  "Is  his  name 
McKee  ?  "  My  friend  said  :  "  Yes,  he  is  McKee,  of  Louisville  ;  a  famous 
preacher  there,  I  believe."  A  day  or  two  afterward,  I  was  introduced 
to  the  same  gentleman ;  his  face  was  so  like  that  of  the  McKees  in  Ulster 
that  I  identified  him  at  once.  A  few  days  after  our  introduction,  he  told 
me  he  came  from  Ulster,  and  that  he  heard  there  were  several  persons 
of  his  name  in  the  ministry  over  there.  I  say  to  you,  as  I  looked  over 
the  faces  of  the  people  here  yesterday,  I  could  hardly  keep  the  tears 
from  my  eyes,  as  they  rested  upon  so  many  heads  and  faces  and  figures 
like  those  with  which  I  had  been  familiar  in  Ulster.  The  changes  of 
a  physical  kind  are  far  less  than  one  would  at  first  suppose ;  and  I  wish 
for  nothing  better  than  that  you  may  keep  pure  the  moral  characteris 
tics  and  the  habits  of  private  life  that  made  the  Scotch-Irish  what,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  they  have  been  made. 

I  will  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  characteristics  of  the  people  as  I 
lived  among  them.  In  the  first  place,  I  think  it  is  true  to  say,  that 
they  are  remarkably  industrious  as  a  people,  and  they  succeeded  in  se 
curing  a  degree  of  comfort  in  their  homes,  and  respectability  in  dress 
and  appearance,  that  would  hardly  be  expected  from  their  limited 
means.  I  remember  that  four  or  five  or  six  acres  of  laud  was  enough 
for  a  family.  They  raised  crops  upon  it  for  the  support  of  the  family, 
and  by  means  of  weaving  at  other  times,  the  men  and  the  women 


104  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

were  accustomed  to  supplement  the  produce  of  the  little  farm,  and  se 
cure  a  certain  degree  of  independence  and  respectability.  Those  in 
dustrious  traits  are  propagated  still,  and  I  hope  they  will  continue  to 
be.  Just  as  soon  as  machinery  came  into  use,  the  people  of  the  north 
of  Ireland  availed  themselves  of  it.  They  adapted  themselves  to  the 
new  conditions  and  circumstances,  and  its  effect  is  visible  at  the  present 
time.  The  one  manufacturing  region  in  Ireland  you  will  find  in 
Ulster.  The  only  thing  that  has  succeeded  in  money  making  in  the 
way  of  manufacturing  in  the  three  other  provinces  are  two  forms  of 
enterprise  known  as  distilling  and  brewing;  but  in  Ulster  it  is  the 
other  way.  Many  people  in  Ulster  feel  apprehensive  in  regard  to  con 
templated  legislation,  for  they  say  that,  if  a  high  rate  of  taxation 
should  be  put  upon  the  provinces,  the  amount  which  would  fall  upon 
Ulster  would  be  out  of  proportion  to  that  upon  the  other  provinces, 
and  would  tend  to  embarrass  its  industries. 

We  should  do  the  best  that  we  can  to  propagate  these  habits  of 
hard  working  and  industry  among  the  people  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact.  I  will  mention  an  incident  that  occurred  in  Ulster  during 
the  terrible  famine  in  1844-5-6.  Owing  to  the  complete  failure  of 
the  potato  crop  in  Connaught,  the  suffering  there  was  very  intense. 
Many  contributions  from  America  and  elsewhere  were  sent  in.  Chris 
tian  ladies  resolved  to  make  the  people  in  Ireland  self-sustaining. 
They  corresponded  with  the  people  mostly  in  Ulster,  and  asked  that 
teachers  be  sent  out  to  give  instruction  in  sewed  muslin  work.  The 
result  was,  that  female  teachers,  mostly  the  daughters  of  farmers  in 
Ulster,  capable  and  educated,  were  sent  into  Connaught,  where  the 
people  were  starving ;  and  the  result  was  the  in  trod  notion,  not  only  of 
a  high  moral  training,  but  a  teaching  of  industry,  and  habits  of  self- 
support  and  self-reliance,  which  is  still  visible  in  their  condition  to 
this  day. 

The  second  thiug  I  have  to  notice,  in  connection  with  these  Ulster 
people,  is  a  certain  unwillingness  on  their  part  to  be  the  recipients  of 
charity.  There  were  various  forms  of  charity  scattered  over  the 
country,  governmental  and  ecclesiastical.  The  Scotch-Irish,  as  a 
class,  were  usually  the  last  to  avail  themselves  of  these  opportunities. 
It  is  a  governmental  regulation  in  the  old  world  that  in  the  poor- 
houses  there  should  be  chaplains  of  the  respective  denominations. 
Presbyterian  ministers  used  to  smile  over  the  fact  that  it  was  difficult 
to  get  their  people  into  the  poor-house.  They  had  a  small  constituency 
in  there.  For  nine  years,  I  was  chaplain  of  the  Presbyterian  order  to 
the  female  convict  establishment  in  Dublin,  which  represented  all  the 
female  convicts  of  the  country.  My  salary  was  not  particularly  ex- 


SCOTCH-IRISH   CHARACTERISTICS.  105 

travagant,  but  I  used  to  feel  compunction  in  taking  it.  We  had  in 
the  establishment  seven  hundred  female  convicts.  Usually,  there 
would  be  about  sixty-five  that  were  Protestants  of  any  kind,  and  fifteen 
of  these  were  as  many  as  usually  fell  to  my  lot,  although  the  Protestant 
people  represented  a  fourth  of  the  population  of  the  country.  This 
unwillingness  to  be  dependent  upon  charity  is  characteristic  of  the 
people.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  there  are  some  of  my  fellow-country 
men  who  do  not  inherit  this  self-respect.  I  remember  a  man  that, 
some  time  ago,  made  application  to  me  for  aid  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  a  Presbyterian  "  like  1  was,"  and  therefore  thought  it  best  to  apply 
to  me.  There  was  a  certain  brogue  in  his  voice  that  put  me  a  little  in 
doubt.  "Well,"  I  said,  "I  know  nearly  every  man  that  is  in  the 
congregation  I  serve,  and  I  don't  remember  seeing  you  there."  He 
convicted  himself  when  he  said,  "  Well,  I  am  always  there  at 
vespers."  The  American  way  of  describing  it  is,  that  he  gave  himself 
away  without  knowing  it. 

Let  us  cultivate  in  America  this  proud  spirit  of  self-reliance. 
Where  is  there  a  land  with  the  resources  that  this  country  has  ?  I 
was  taken  out  yesterday  eight  or  nine  miles  to  the  old  historic  church, 
and  as  I  gazed  at  the  fertile  land,  the  beautiful  fields,  the  growing  crops, 
the  magnificent  trees,  the  treasures  of  the  southland,  I  could  not  but 
think  what  responsibility  rests  upon  the  people  of  these  regions  ;  how 
much  God  has  given  them,  for  which  they  should  magnify,  glorify, 
and  honor  him  I 

The  third  thing  I  would  like  to  mention  in  connection  with  these 
Scotch-Irish  people,  is  that  they  are  very  strict  and  conscientious  in 
the  matter  of  their  religious  observances.  My  memory  goes  back  to 
the  scenes  that  made  the  greatest  impression  upon  me,  I  mean  the 
communion  seasons  in  the  country  congregations.  There  was  a  solemn 
assemblage  of  the  people  on  Wednesday  or  Thursday,  when  the  people 
were  expected  to  be  in  church.  There  was  another  service  on  Satur 
day,  the  ministers  generally  getting  some  of  their  brethren  to  assist 
them  in  the  exercises.  The  services  of  the  communion  Sabbath  would 
last  three,  four,  and  five  hours,  and  yet  there  did  not  seem  to  be  any 
weariness  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

I  remember  how,  before  the  elders  gave  the  cup,  the  people  sang : 
"I'll  of  salvation  take  the  cup, 

And  on   God'8  name  will  call; 
I'll  pay  my  vows  now  to  the  Lord 
Before  His  people  all." 

They  would  take  a  seat  at  the  table,  then  communion  serv 
ices  would  follow,  and  thanksgiving  would  be  raised  for  the  bless 
ings  they  enjoyed,  and  then  the  visiting  minister  would  take 
charge.  The  impression  made  by  those  services  I  will  carry  to  my 
dying  day,  and  I  could  wish  nothing  better  for  the  Scotch-Irish  race 


106  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

than  that,  reasonably  dependent  upon  new  conditions,  we  should  retain 
the  same  loyal  attachment  to  God's  truth,  the  same  high  appreciation 
of  Christian  privileges,  and  the  same  spirit  of  consecration  to  him 
whom  we  call  the  God  of  our  salvation,  and  before  whom  we  rejoice 
as  the  God  of  our  fathers.  I  remember  the  first  time  I  was  taken  to 
Sunday-school.  Two  girls,  relations  of  mine,  told  me  that  they  would 
call  for  me.  I  can  remember  the  picture  that  was  then  presented  to 
me.  They  had  on  their  Sunday  dresses,  of  course,  nice,  clean,  with  a 
pocket  handkerchief  wrapped  reverently  around  a  little  Bible,  a  flower 
stuck  in  the  end  of  the  Bible.  The  girls  carried  this  in  their  hands  in 
a  decent,  quiet  way,  and  they  brought  me  thus  to  school.  At  that  time 
we  had  no  international  lesson  system,  and  no  modern  methods  of 
teaching.  We  boys,  after  school,  would  compare  notes  and  say : 
''How  many  chapters  did  you  read?  We  have  read  thirteen."  The 
reply  would  be,  "Oh,  we  did  better  than  that;  we  read  fourteen." 
The  work  consisted  mainly  in  the  children  being  grouped  together  and 
reading  verse  after  verse.  The  teacher  confined  his  instruction  mainly 
to  correcting  errors  in  pronunciation,  and  keeping  the  boys  in  good 
order.  An  immense  change  has  taken  place  to-day,  and  you  would 
not  find  in  Christendom  better  organized  Sunday-schools  and  better 
teachers  than  there  are  in  Ulster  at  the  present  time.  Let  us  continue 
the  same  methods  over  this  laud,  without  partisanship,  but  in  the  true 
spirit  of  patriotism.  You  and  I  will  agree  in  the  declaration  that  if 
we  would  have  the  righteousness  that  exalteth  a  nation,  and  keep 
away  the  sin  that  disgraces  a  people,  we  must  get  the  word  of  the 
Lord  into  the  hearts  of  the.  people,  we  must  educate  the  conscience 
and  keep  it  educated,  and  then  men  will  fear  God,  and  work  righteous 
ness. 

One  other  thing  characteristic  of  the  people  as  I  knew  them : 
that  is,  the  great  interest  they  felt  in  education.  This  is  a  fruitful 
theme,  but  I  will  not  dwell  long  upon  it.  I  will  only  mention  that  for 
generations,  in  the  province  of  Ulster,  an  educated  ministry  was  always 
sought  and  obtained;  but  that  these  men  might  be  educated  had  given 
the  greatest  trouble  and  difficulty.  No  college  would  admit  them. 
Trinity  college  was  founded  upon  a  broad  basis,  and  the  two  first  fel 
lows  were  Presbyterians  and  Scotchmen.  But  this  was  taken  away, 
and  the  boys  had  then  to  go  to  Scotland.  They  walked  fifty  or  sixty 
miles  with  a  package  on  their  shoulders.  They  stopped  at  the  farm 
houses,  and  they  never  were  refused  hospitality.  They  would  land  at 
Glasgow  and  walk  to  Edinburgh,  and  accept  hospitality  from  the  peo 
ple.  Dr.  Henry  Cook,  one  of  the  greatest  men  that  Ireland  ever  pro 
duced,  made  his  way  thus  to  a  Scottish  university.  The  process  of 


SCOTCH-IRISH   CHARACTERISTICS.  107 

conflict,  of  self-denial,  of  constrained  ingenuity  that  these  youug  men 
were  compelled  to  go  through  in  order  to  obtain  an  education,  made 
them  in  :i  high  degree  strong  men,  capable  men,  business  men,  effect 
ive  men  in  doing  the  work  that  was  given  them  as  leaders  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  instructors  in  the  interests  of  good.  Some  of  the  best  in 
structors  that  the  people  call  Scotch-Irish  were  found  in  the  persons  of 
ministers.  A  minister  would  set  up  a  classical  school  to  which  boys 
would  come  to  get  an  education  that  was  necessary  to  fit  them  for  en 
tering  college.  Many  came  who  did  not  want  to  learn  the  classics. 
All  paid  school  fees  regularly,  and  maintained  their  independence.  In 
this  connection  I  think  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Blakely,  minister  in  Mouo- 
han,  where  there  are  hundreds  of  men,  and  not  a  few  upon  this  conti 
nent  to-day,  who  will  tell  you  that  they  owe  every  thing  in  life  to  the 
teaching  of  that  faithful  minister,  who  did  the  duties  of  his  charge  at 
the  same  time  he  was  giving  this  instruction.  Another  specimen  was 
Dr.  McKee,  a  kinsman  of  the  man  to  whom  I  have  alluded. 

It  is  my  misfortune  that  I  arn  tall.  I  am  a  high  churchman  by 
nature.  I  was  tall  as  a  boy,  but  Mr.  McKee  was  taller,  six  feet, 
seven,  and  perfectly  straight.  I  remember  to-day  with  pride  that  lie 
laid  his  hand  upon  my  head  and  gave  me  a  pleasant  word.  I  was  a 
student  then,  but  I  never  forgot  it.  He  had  a  fine  school  and  a  large 
congregation.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  managed  his  farm  with  skill  and 
ability.  He  had  a  good  horse,  and  like  Mr.  Boimer  here,  he  was  very 
proud  of  horses,  but  he  never  touched  any  thing  like  betting  or 
gambling  on  races.  He  was  driving  through  his  parish  one  afternoon 
on  one  of  his  extremely  good  horses.  It  was  a  day  like  this,  with  a 
strong  sun.  There  was  a  poor  man  working  in  a  field  by  the  roadside, 
with  his  coat  off,  and  his  shirt  badly  torn.  The  consequence  was  that 
the  sun  had  reddened  that  portion  of  his  skin  which  was  exposed,  as 
if  it  would  blister  it.  McKee  looked  at  the  man  and  pitied  him.  He 
dismounted,  and  having  long  legs,  stepped  over  the  fence.  "My 
friend,  come  here,"  and  McKee  took  off  his  waistcoat  and  shirt,  and 
made  the  man  put  on  the  shirt,  and  then  buttoning  up  the  coat, 
said,  "  Nobody  will  miss  my  shirt  before  I  get  home,"  and  he 
left  it  there.  He  was  the  only  Presbyterian  minister  in  Ireland 
that  was  invited  to  go  and  to  speak  in  a  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
The  people  regarded  him  as  an  honest,  God-fearing  man,  and  they 
said :  "  Whatever  he  says  we  must  do."  He  passed  away,  but 
left  a  son  behind  who  was  my  successor  in  the  large  church  in  Dub 
lin.  He  was  minister  in  the  north  of  Ireland  before  being  brought 
to  Dublin.  I  heard  a  circumstance  concerning  him  that  I  will  repeat 
now.  "  You  ought  to  have  a  better  salary,"  said  some  of  his  deacons 


108  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

to  him.  "  Why  ?  "  said  he.  "  Well,  you  have  to  go  to  more  expense 
than  we,"  they  said.  "You  have  to  wear  better  clothing,  and  keep 
up  better  style."  "  Clothing,"  said  he,  and  he  turned  around  and  laid 
his  hand  upon  the  head  of  one  of  his  elders  who  was  near,  and  said : 
"  He  is  a  better  man  than  I ;  why  should  I  have  a  better  coat  than 
he?"  That  was  the  style  of  the  man;  unselfish,  noble,  heroic,  living 
for  the  truth ;  and  when  his  health  broke  down,  and  he  had  to  go  to 
Australia  with  the  hope  of  improving  it.  It  was  proposed  by  and  by, 
in  the  course  of  time,  that  there  should  be  established  a  national 
system  of  education.  All  united  secular  education  was  fought  by  the 
Catholics.  The  Presbyterians  first  took  their  stand  in  the  support 
of  that  system.  The  time  was  when  my  poor  countrymen  who  came 
here  from  the  other  provinces  of  Ireland  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
and  came  as  navvies,  porters,  and  railroad  hands.  The  corresponding 
class  coming  to  this  country  to-day  does  not  come  to  be  porters  and  rail 
road  workers,  but  present  themselves  at  the  dry-goods  stores  and  other 
such  occupations,  because  they  have  an  education  that  can  sustain 
them.  There  have  been  established  in  Ireland  colleges — three  Queen's 
colleges  and  two  other  institutions  under  the  control  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  and  the  best  educational  facilities  are  enjoyed  by  the  people; 
and  it  is  with  great  satisfaction  that  I  notice  from  time  to  time  in  the 
contests  in  the  three  kingdoms,  that  the  male  and  female  students  from 
these  Irish  institutions  take  their  places  among  the  foremost.  Ulster 
is  keeping  its  ground  in  the  forefront  in  the  education  of  the  country. 
I  am  unwilling  to  take  up  too  much  of  your  time,  but  will  say  a 
single  word  in  relation  to  things  denominational  there  at  this  time.  A 
very  intelligent  man  said  to  me  a  short  while  ago:  " I  am  glad  to  see 
you,  and  to  shake  hands  with  you.  When  an  Irishman  becomes  a 
Presbyterian,  he  is  sure  to  be  a  good  one."  That  gentleman  had  in 
his  mind  the  idea  that  all  Irishmen  in  their  native  land  were  other 
than  Protestant.  That  is  a  mistake.  I  might  say  in  rough  numbers 
that  one-fourth  of  the  people  of  Ireland  are  Protestant,  and  nearly 
one-half  of  these  retain  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  type.  The  other 
half  is  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  which  is  strongest  in  Ulster, 
but  is  to  some  extent  spread  over  the  kingdom.  I  accordingly  say  to 
the  gentlemen  who  are  round  about  me,  that  when  you  are  trying  to 
form  an  estimate  of  proposed  legislation  for  Ireland,  of  which  we  read 
so  much,  take  into  consideration  the  historic  claims  of  this  portion  of 
Ireland,  and  its  peculiar  position ;  for,  unless  we  do  so,  we  can  not 
rightly  judge  of  the  situation.  The  Irish  General  Assembly  does 
not  contain  many  rich  people.  They  are  found  mostly  in  Belfast 
and  the  manufacturing  centers,  but  although  these  people  were 


SCOTCH-IRISH   CHARACTERISTICS.  109 

poor  they  founded  colonial  missions;  preachers  were  sent  to  Canada 
and  Australia,  avid  these  reflected  gratitude  to  the  feeble  Presby 
terian  church  of  Ireland  by  establishing  kindred  institutions  in 
those  two  dominions.  The  General  Assembly  now  has  missions  in 
India,  and  in  China,  and  in  Spain.  It  has  six  hundred  congregations 
as  many  ministers,  and  I  might  say  that  to-day  there  can  not  be  found 
in  Christendom  a  more  determined  body  of  ministers.  And  I  am  also 
glad  to  speak  a  word  on  behalf  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church, 
which  has  working  members  and  ministers.  The  disestablishment 
which  took  place,  it  was  supposed  by  many,  would  destroy  that  institu 
tion,  the  state  and  church  being  so  intimately  connected.  But  the  crisis 
was  passed,  and  the  members  of  the  church  found  a  responsibility  rest 
ing  upon  them  which  they  did  not  feel  before,  and  though  there  have 
been  a  few  local  troubles,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  Ireland 
is  stronger  and  better  than  before  the  disestablishment.  This  is  one 
more  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  the  United  States  is  setting  the 
example  to  the  nations  and  the  countries  of  the  world,  of  breaking 
down  prejudice  and  making  friends. 

This  meeting  is  the  beginning  of  a  series,  the  commencement  of 
an  organization  that  I  think  may  do  great  good  over  this  laud.  Let 
us  know  one  another,  and  have  sympathy  with  one  another.  Let  it  be 
intelligent  sympathy.  Let  us  try  to  understand  the  historical  inci 
dents  of  the  country,  and  of  the  people  to  which  we  belong.  Let  us 
know  how  God  led  them.  I  can  but  think  that  the  eye  of  America  is 
seeing  more  distinctly  than  it  once  did,  the  way  in  which  its  life  was 
shaped.  There  were  Huguenots  who  suffered  temptations  and  learned 
the  trials  of  freedom.  The  Puritan  passed  through  the  same  experi 
ence.  He  knew  the  blessing  of  free  conscience,  free  worship,  free 
legislation  ;  and  there  are  Scotch-Irish  well  fitted  to  be  their  com 
panions,  their  comrades,  their  fellow  soldiers,  and  fellow  workers  in 
the  building  up  of  a  great  nation,  where  God  on  the  one  hand  shall 
have  his  rights,  and  his  creatures  on  the  other  hand  shall  have  their 
rights  that  he  intended  them  to  enjoy,  and  with  which  He  blessed  the 
community.  Let  us  know  one  another,  care  for  one  another,  love 
one  another;  let  us  help  one  another,  and  feel  that  it  is  a  dignity  that 
God  has  put  upon  us  when  he  permits  us  to  co-operate  with  these, 
our  brethren,  without  sectionalism,  partisanship  or  political  feeling,  iu 
developing  our  great  nation.  On  higher  grounds  let  us  come  together 
and  co-operate  in  building  up  and  perpetuating  the  power  of  this 
great  and  glorious  country :  and  then  we,  the  children  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish,  will  be  moving  upon  the  lines  along  which  our  fathers  have 
gone  in  the  generations  that  preceded  us. 


110  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  OF  THE  SOUTH. 

BY    HON.    \VM.    WIRT    HENRY,    LL.D.,    OF    VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Congress,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — In 
obeying  the  call  to  take  part  in  this  celebration,  I  recognize  the  com 
pliment  paid  the  state  from  which  I  come,  a  state  so  rich  in  historic 
memories,  and  whose  history  has  been  so  interwoven  with  that  of  the 
people  in  whose  honor  we  have  met,  that  her  greatness  may  be  said  to 
have  been  the  outgrowth  of  their  sterling  qualities,  rather  than  of  any 
other  portion  of  her  population. 

In  the  name  of  Virginia,  the  mother  of  states  and  of  statesmen, 
I  salute  you,  and  bid  you  God-speed  in  gathering  up  and  preserving 
the  records  and  traditions  of  the  noble  race  which  has  ever  been  fore 
most  in  the  march  of  Christian  civilization. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  in  its  progress  along  the  path  of 
civilization  is  filled  with  the  migrations  of  the  more  vigorous  races  or 
nations,  who  have  left  their  native  lands  to  seize  and  occupy  the 
countries  possessed  by  inferior  or  degenerate  populations.  Sometimes, 
these  migrations  have  been  of  nations,  as  was  that  of  the  Israelites, 
but  generally  they  have  been  simply  colonies,  which  have  preserved 
for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  their  connection  with  or  dependence  upon 
the  mother  countries.  Among  the  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  were  most  distinguished  for  their  spirit  of  colonization, 
and  to  this  was  due,  in  great  measure,  the  wonderful  influence  they 
severally  exerted.  But  of  all  the  race  movements,  that  which  has 
most  affected  the  history  of  the  world  has  been  the  colonization  and 
subsequent  occupation  of  North  America  by  the  English-speaking 
people,  and,  among  these,  none  can  claim  just  precedence  over  the 
Scotch-Irish,  whom  we  are  met  this  day  to  honor. 

The  vain  efforts  of  the  civil  power  to  exterminate  early  Christian 
ity  by  fire  and  sword  were  followed  by  its  embrace,  under  the  Emperor 
Constautine,  in  the  fourth  century.  The  adulterous  union  which  en 
sued  was  more  disastrous  to  the  pure  religion  of  Christ  than  persecu 
tion.  The  one  purified,  but  the  other  corrupted  it.  From  it  followed 
a  debasement  of  both  church  and  state,  and  a  long  reign  of  civil  and 
religious  tyranny.  The  face  of  the  divine  author  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  seemed  veiled,  and  the  dark  ages  of  the  world  followed,  in 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   THE    SOUTH.  Ill 

which  human  rights  seemed  hopelessly  enchained  by  priest  and  king. 
But  liberty,  like  truth — 

"Though  crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again, 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers." 

Finally,  after  a  thousand  years  of  darkness,  the  light  of  the  ap 
proaching  day  began  to  empurple  the  horizon.  The  fifteenth  century 
witnessed  the  preparation  for  the  coming  reformation  in  the  invention 
of  movable  type,  the  revival  of  letters,  and  the  discovery  of  America, 
destined  to  be  the  great  field  for  the  development  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed. 

The  sixteenth  century  was  resplendent  with  the  light  of  reformed 
Christianity,  but,  as  at  the  first,  it  derived  much  of  its  brilliancy  from 
the  sparks  struck  by  the  rough  hand  of  persecution. 

The  claim  of  Spain  to  America  was  based  upon  its  discovery  by 
Columbus,  and  the  grant  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  These  so-called 
muniments  of  title  were  fortified  by  explorations  and  settlements. 
From  these  last  Spain  derived  immense  riches,  and  became  the  most 
powerful  nation  of  Europe.  But  her  wealth  was  devoted  to  the  de 
struction  of  the  reformed  faith,  which,  kindled  in  Germany  by  Luther, 
was  spreading  rapidly  over  the  continent.  But  God,  who  restrains  the 
wrath  of  man  and  makes  the  remainder  thereof  to  praise  him,  brought 
good  out  of  the  evil  designed. 

The  refusal  of  the  pope  to  divorce  the  Spanish  wife  of  Henry 
VIII.  of  England,  caused  that  royal  Blue  Beard  to  separate  his  king 
dom  from  the  domination  of  the  Catholic  see,  and  to  encourage  its 
tendency  to  embrace  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  The  effort 
of  the  papacy  to  crush  out  the  Reformation  in  France  and  the  Nether 
lands  led  to  the  implantation  in  America  of  the  Protestant  English 
race. 

Among  the  English  who  volunteered,  in  1569,  for  the  defense  of 
the  Protestant  religion  on  the  continent,  was  a  youth  of  seventeen, 
who  left  Oxford  and  his  studies  to  learn  the  art  of  war  under  Admiral 
Coligny  and  William  the  Silent.  While  thus  engaged,  he  conceived 
a  mortal  hatred  to  Spain,  and  perceiving  that  her  strength  lay  in  her 
American  possessions,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  wresting  the  New 
World  from  her  by  English  colonization.  This  youth  became  the 
celebrated  soldier,  statesman,  courtier,  poet,  historian,  and  philosopher, 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  When,  by  his  courage,  he  had  won  military  re 
nown,  and  by  his  address  had  won  the  favor  of  his  great  sovereign, 
Elizabeth,  and  wealth  came  with  honor,  he  devoted  it  to  the  realiza 
tion  of  his  great  design.  His  colony  at  Roanoke  Island,  planted  in 


112  THE   SCOTCH  IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

1584,  perished,  indeed,  because  he  was  forced  to  neglect  it  to  aid  in 
the  defense  of  England  against  the  great  Spanish  Armada,  designed 
to  crush  out  Protestantism  in  that  kingdom.  But  the  inspiration  of 
his  genius  did  not  die.  The  pusillanimous  James,  who  succeeded  his 
heroic  mistress  on  the  throne,  cast  him  into  the  Tower,  after  the  mock 
ery  of  a  trial  for  treason,  and  finally  beheaded  him,  at  the  behest  of 
the  Spanish  king.  But  if  Catholic  Spain  compassed  his  death,  it  was 
not  till  he  had  struck  that  power  a  mortal  blow,  at  Cadiz,  on  21st 
June,  1596,  in  the  destruction  of  her  fleet  and  the  capture  of  the  city, 
a  blow  which  marks  the  beginning  of  her  decadence  as  a  great  power. 
Nor  was  he  put  to  death  till  he  had  seen  the  beginning  of  the  fulfill 
ment  of  his  prediction,  that  he  should  "  live  to  see  America  an  English 
nation."  In  his  prison  walls,  he  heard  of,  if  he  could  not  see,  the  de 
parture  of  the  little  fleet  which  carried  the  English  colony  to  James 
town,  in  1607;  and  before  his  execution,  in  1618,  Virginia  had  he- 
come  a  vigorous  colony  under  the  London  Company,  which  had  suc 
ceeded  to  his  charter  rights. 

The  planting  of  that  colony  marks  a  most  important  era  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  system  of  English 
colonization,  which  has  belted  the  earth,  and  has  made  the  inhabitants 
of  the  little  British  Isles  the  greatest  power  in  the  world.  From  that 
feeble  germ,  preserved  from  destruction  by  an  Indian  maiden,  has 
been  developed  an  English  nation  which  controls  the  continent  of 
North  America,  and,  within  three  hundred  years,  has  become  one 
among  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth.  Had  not  Pocahontas 
thrown  herself  between  the  heroic  Smith  and  the  uplifted  club  raised 
for  his  execution,  the  feeble  colony  would  have  lost  its  protecting 
genius, .and  would,  doubtless,  have  perished.  Had  it  perished,  the 
Latin  nations,  with  imperialism  in  church  and  state,  would,  doubtless, 
have  possessed  the  continent  they  already  so  largely  occupied.  What 
would  have  been  the  result  we  may  see  by  looking  upon  Mexico,  with 
her  degenerate  people  and  unstable  government,  permanent  in  nothing 
but  in  oppression  and  misrule. 

But  in  the  councils  of  heaven  it  had  been  determined  that  the 
tree  of  liberty  should  be  planted  in  America,  and  should  so  flourish  in 
its  genial  soil  that  it  should  fill  the  land  and  cast  its  benign  influences 
over  all  the  earth.  For  this  great  trust,  but  one  people  was  fitted — 
the  liberty-loving,  the  liberty-preserving  Anglo-Saxon  race.  They 
came  with  English  Protestantism,  and  English  constitutional  law,  de 
veloped  under  Magna  Charta  by  free  Parliaments.  In  the  keeping 
of  that  handful  of  men  who  landed  at  Jamestown  in  1607,  was  the 
hope  of  America  for  free  institutions. 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   OP   THE   SOUTH.  113 

But,  as  has  been  the  history  of  liberty  in  all  ages,  its  preservation 
here  has  cost  a  continuous  struggle.  Not  only  on  American  soil,  but 
on  European  fields,  the  possession  of  America  was  the  bone  of  conten 
tion  between  Catholic  and  Protestant  powers  for  a  century  and  a  half. 
Finally,  in  1763,  Protestant  England  was  left  in  possession  of  the  con 
tinent  east  of  the  Mississippi,  except  the  Floridas  bordering  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  hand  of  Providence  had  thus  prepared  the  way  for 
the  great  republic,  soon  to  succeed  the  British  power  in  all  of  its  ter 
ritory  south  of  the  lakes.  In  this  preparation,  as  we  look  back  at  it 
now  in  the  light  of  history,  nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  training 
of  the  peoples  for  their  great  work  of  establishing  free  institutions  in 
America.  In  the  school  of  tyranny,  they  learned  to  value  liberty. 

The  history  of  the  English,  the  Dutch,  and  the  French  settlers, 
who  united  to  found  the  United  States,  is  of  the  deepest  interest,  ex 
hibiting,  as  it  does,  the  dealings  of  God  in  preparing  a  suitable  popu 
lation  for  this  great  republic.  But  on  this  occasion,  our  thoughts  are 
turned  to  but  one  of  the  peoples  to  whom  the  world  is  indebted  for  the 
America  of  to-day,  with  all  of  its  grand  achievements  in  the  past  and 
its  power  for  incalculable  good  in  the  future. 

The  kingdom  of  Scotland,  first  known  as  "Scotia  Minor,"  wag 
settled  by  the  ancient  race  of  Celts,  who  came  over  from  Ireland,  then 
known  as  "  Scotia  Major."  But,  in  the  course  of  time,  this  rude  peo 
ple  were  almost  entirely  supplanted  by,  when  not  commingled  with, 
the  sturdy  race  from  the  south  of  the  Tweed,  the  admixture  of  the 
Norman  and  Saxon,  with  a  slight  infusrju  of  Danish  blood.  Says 
Macaulay :  "  The  population  of  Scotland,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Celtic  tribes,  which  were  thinly  scattered  over  the  Hebrides  and  ovei 
the  northern  parts  of  the  mountainous  shires,  was  of  the  same  blood 
with  the  population  of  England,  and  spoke  a  tongue  which  did  not 
differ  from  the  purest  English  more  than  the  dialects  of  Somersetshire 
and  Lancashire  difter  from  each  other." 

The  air  and  food  north  of  the  Tweed,  and  the  Celtic  infusion,  as 
years  rolled  around,  gave  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the 
Scotch  people,  and  intensified  in  them  the  noble  traits  of  the  English — 
stern  integrity,  high  sense  of  duty,  hatred  of  tyranny,  and  devotion 
to  God. 

Presbyterianism,  after  a  long  and  bloody  struggle  with  Roman 
ism,  was  at  last  established  on  its  soil,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  under 
the  leadership  of  that  great  man  "  who  never  feared  the  face  of  clay," 
the  brave  John  Knox,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  a  free  and  well- 
ordered  church  so  broad  and  deep  that  Scotland  has  ever  since  re- 
8 


114  THE  8COTCH-IETSH   IN   AMERICA. 

mained  Presbyterian  to  the  core.  When  asked  by  Queen  Mary, 
"Think  you  that  subjects,  having  power,  may  resist  their  princes ?" 
his  memorable  reply  was,  "  If  princes  exceed  their  bounds,  madam, 
no  doubt  they  may  be  resisted  even  by  power."  This  Froude  styles 
"  the  creed  of  republics  in  its  first  hard  form."  It  contained  the  germ 
of  American  liberty.  His  mantle  fell  on  a  worthy  successor,  Andrew 
Melville,  who,  in  his  noble  rebuke  to  King  James,  proclaimed  that 
principle  of  religious  freedom  which  has  ever  been  characteristic 
of  the  Scotch  church,  and  which  developed  into  the  complete  divorce 
of  church  and  state  in  America. 

Said  he:  "There  are  two  kings  and  two  kingdoms  in  Scotland. 
There  is  King  James,  the  head  of  this  commonwealth,  and  there  is 
Christ  Jesus,  the  king  of  the  church,  whose  subject  James  the  Sixth 
is,  and  of  whose  kingdom  he  is  not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  nor  a  head,  but 
a  member.  We  will  yield  to  your  place,  and  give  you  all  due  obedi 
ence.  But  again  I  say,  you  are  not  the  head  of  the  church." 

Under  the  influence  of  general  education  and  a  pure  Christianity, 
the  Scotch  character  developed  to  the  greatest  excellency  yet  attained 
by  civilization.  Nothing  has  ever  surpassed  the  peasant  life  described 
by  Burns  in  "  The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night,"  or  the  Scottish  lords  and 
ladies  pictured  by  the  pen  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

The  effort  of  Catholic  Spain,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  to  wrest 
the  Emerald  Isle  from  Great  Britain,  stimulated  a  series  of  rebellions, 
which  were  finally  quelled  toward  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
Upon  her  successor  was  laid  the  task  of  pacifying  the  island.  In 
September,  1607,  four  months  after  the  settlement  at  Jamestown,  the 
earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  the  great  leaders  in  the  Catholic 
rebellions,  sailed  from  the  beautiful  Lough  S willy,  on  the  northwest 
coast  of  Ireland,  followed  by  thousands  of  their  old  companions  in 
arms,  and  sought  a  new  home  on  the  continent.  The  day  of  their  de 
parture  dates  a  new  era  in  Irish  history.  They  left  large  tracts  of 
laud  in  north  Ireland  unoccupied  and  forfeited  to  the  crown,  and  these 
were  parceled  out  among  a  body  of  Scotch  and  English,  brought  over 
for  the  purpose.  The  far  greater  number  of  these  plantations  were 
from  the  lower  part  of  Scotland,  and  became  known  as  "  Scotch- 
Irish."  Thus  a  new  population  was  given  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  which 
has  changed  its  history.  The  province  of  Ulster,  with  fewer  natural 
advantages  than  either  Munster,  Leinster,  or  Connaught,  became  the 
most  prosperous,  industrious,  and  law-abiding  of  all  Ireland.  ludeed, 
the  difference  between  Scotland  and  Spain  is  not  greater  than  between 
Ulster  and  her  sister  counties,  even  to  this  day. 

But  the  Protestant  population  thus  transplanted  to  the  north  of 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  THE   SOUTH.  115 

Ireland  was  destined  to  suffer  many  and  bloody  persecutions,  cul 
minating  in  the  world -renowned  siege  of  Londonderry,  in  the  reign  of 
James  II.,  the  unparalleled  defense  of  whic,h  saved  Protestantism  in 
the  island,  and  enabled  William  of  Orange  to  secure  his  throne. 
Tempered  by  these,  the  iron  in  the  Scotch  character  became  finest 
steel.  During  the  reign  of  William  they  had  rest,  but  the  accession 
of  Anne,  "the  good  Queen  Anne,"  as  she  is  often  called,  was  the  oc 
casion  of  the  renewal  of  the  persecution  of  the  Presbyterians.  In 
1704,  the  test-oath  was  imposed,  by  which  every  one  in  public  em 
ployment  was  required  to  profess  English  prelacy.  It  was  intended 
to  suppress  Popery,  but  was  used  by  the  Episcopal  bishops  to  check 
Presbyterian  ism.  To  this  was  added  burdensome  restraints  on  their 
commerce,  and  extortionate  rents  from  their  landlords,  resulting  in 
what  is  known  as  the  Antrim  evictions.  There  had  been  occasional 
emigrations  from  the  north  ;of  Ireland  from  the  plantation  of  the 
Scotch,  and  one  of  the  ministers  sent  over  in  1683,  Francis  Makemie, 
had  organized  on  the  eastern  shore  of 'Maryland  and  in  the  adjoining 
counties  of  Virginia  the  first  Presbyterian  churches  in  America.  But 
in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  great  movement  began 
which  transported  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Scotch-Irish  into  the 
American  colonies,  and,  through  their  influence,  shaped  in  a  great 
measure  the  destinies  of  America.  Says  the  historian  Froude  :  "  In 
the  two  years  which  followed  the  Antrim  evictions,  thirty  thousand 
Protestants  left  Ulster  for  a  land  where  there  was  "no  legal  robbery, 
and  where  those  who  sowed  the  seed  could  reap  the  harvest."  Alarmed 
by  the  depletion  of  the  Protestant  population,  the  Toleration  Act  was 
passed,  and  by  it,  and  further  promises  of  relief,  the  tide  of  emigra 
tion  was  checked  for  a  brief  period.  In  1728,  however,  it  began 
anew,  and  from  1729  to  1750,  it  was  estimated  that  "  about  twelve 
thousand  came  annually  from  Ulster  to  America."  So  many  had  set 
tled  in  Pennsylvania  before  1729  that  James  Logan,  the  Quaker 
president  of  that  colony,  expressed  his  fear  that  they  would  become 
proprietors  of  the  province. 

These  emigrants  brought  with  them  and  retained  in  their  new 
homes  distinctive  characteristics.  These  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows : 

1.  They  were  Presbyterians  in  their  religion  and  church  govern 
ment. 

2.  They  were  loyal  to  the  conceded  authority  of  the  king ;  but 
they  considered  him  bound,  as  well  as  themselves,  by  the  engage 
ments  of  "  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,"  entered  into  in  1643 
by  the  Westminster  Assembly  and  Parliament  on  the  one  side  and 


116  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

the  Scottish  nation  on  the  other,  and  adopted  by  the  Presbyterians  of 
Ireland  in  1644,  pledging  the  support  of  the  reformation  and  of  the 
liberties  of  the  kingdoms. 

3.  They  claimed  the  right  to  choose  their  own  ministers,  untram- 
meled  by  the  civil  powers. 

4.  They  practiced  strict  discipline  in  morals,  and  gave  full  in- 
•struction  to   their  youth  in  common  schools  and  academies,  and  in 

teaching  them  the  Bible,  and  that  wonderful  summary  of  its  doctrine 
contained  in  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Catechism. 

5.  They  combined,  in  a  remarkable   degree,  acuteness  of  intel 
lect,  firmness  of  purpose,  and  conscientious  devotion  to  duty. 

It  has  been  well  said  of  them  by  one  who  had  watched  their  de 
velopment  in  spite  of  opposition :  "Man  might  as  well  attempt  to 
lay  his  interdict  upon  the  coming  forth  of  vegetation,  when  the  powers 
of  nature  are  warmed  and  refreshed  by  genial  influences  from  above, 
as  to  arrest  the  progress  of  such  a  people  in  knowledge  and  improve 
ment." 

/This  bold  stream  of  emigrants  struck  the  American  continent 
mainly  on  the  eastern  border  of  Pennylvania,  and  was,  in  great  meas 
ure,  turned  southward  through  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  South  Carolina,  reaching  and  crossing  the  Savannah  river.  It 
was  met  at  various  points  by  counter  streams  of  the  same  race,  which 
had  entered  the  continent  through  the  seaports  of  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia.  Turning  westward,  the  combined  flood  overflowed  the 
mountains  and  covered  the  rich  valley  of  the  Mississippi  beyond.  As 
the  Puritans  or  Round-heads  of  the  south,  but  freed  from  fanaticism, 
they  gave  tone  to  its  people  and  direction  to  its  history. 

It  is  of  these  that  it  is  my  privilege  to  speak  to-day. 

Leaving  Pennsylvania,  southward,  the  first  colony  into  which  this 
race  entered  was  Maryland.  Their  settlements  were  principally  in 
the  narrow  slip  which  constitutes  the  western  portion,  but  we  find  them 
in  every  part  of  the  colony.  It  was  due  to  them  that  Maryland  was 
among  the  foremost  of  the  colonies  in  the  Indian  wars  and  in  the 
Revolution.  Of  this  blood  was  her  great  Revolutionary  leader, 
Charles  Carroll,  and  that  model  soldier,  John  Eager  Howard.  He 
seized  the  critical  moment  with  his  brave  Maryland  line  at  the  battle 
of  Cowpens,  and  turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  and  was  equally  de 
serving  of  success,  but  less  fortunate,  at  Guilford  and  Eutaw.  Of 
him  General  Greene  wrote,  introducing  him  to  a  friend  :  "This  will 
be  handed  to  you  by  Colonel  Howard,  as  good  an  officer  as  the  world 
affords.  He  has  great  ability  and  the  best  disposition  to  promote  the 
service.  My  own  obligations  to  him  are  great — the  public's  still  more 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   THE   SOUTH.  117 

so.     He  deserves  a  statue  of  gold  no  less  than  the  Roman  and  Grecian 
heroes." 

It  was  to  this  population,  and  to  the  Puritans  driven  from  Vir 
ginia  to  Maryland,  that  Protestantism  is  indebted  for  the  rescue  of 
the  colony  from  the  Romish  faith  ;  and  in  all  that  has  made. the  state 
so  conspicuous  on  the  page  of  American  history,  we  find  traces  of  the 
Scotch-Irish. 

Proceeding  southward,  we  next  enter  the  great  colony  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  here  we  can  more  clearly  discover  the  effect  of  this  people 
upon  her  destiny. 

Traces  of  the  Scotch-Irish  were  found  in  Virginia  east  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  early  in 
the  eighteenth  they  were  found  in  Albemarle,  Nelson,  Campbell, 
Prince  Edward,  and  Charlotte  counties,  and  along  the  great  valley 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  But  it  was  after  the  year  1738  that  they  en 
tered  that  valley  in  great  numbers,  and,  with  the  exception  of  some 
German  settlements  near  its  lower  end,  completely  possessed  it  from 
the  Pennsylvania  to  the  North  Carolina  line.  In  that  year  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia  (upon  the  application  of  John  Caldwell,  a  Scotch- 
Irish  elder,  afterward  settled  at  Cub  creek,  in  Charlotte  county,  Va., 
and  the  grandfather  of  the  great  statesman,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun), 
sent  a  commissioner  to  the  governor  of  Virginia  with  a  proposal  to 
people  the  valley  with  Presbyterians,  who  should  hold  the  western 
frontier  against  the  Indians  and  thus  protect  the  colony,  upon  one 
condition  only,  "  that  they  be  allowed  the  liberty  of  their  consciences 
and  of  worshiping  God  in  a  way  agreeable  to  the  principles  of  their 
education."  To  this  Governor  Gooch,  himself  a  Scotchman,  returned 
a  gracious  answer  and  a  promise  of  the  protection  afforded  by  the 
Act  of  Toleration. 

With  this  agreement  the  territory  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  was 
soon  filled  with  a  Scotch-Irish  population,  who  were  glad  to  defend 
the  cavaliers  of  the  colony  from  the  implacable  savage  as  the  price  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  Living  in  continual  danger  from  the 
treacherous  foe,  their  faithful  rifles  were  their  constant  companions, 
and  were  seen  even  in  the  school-houses  and  the  churches  which  in 
variably  marked  their  settlements.  In  the  pulpit  the  trusty  rifle  was 
as  convenient  to  the  preacher  as  the  Bible.  With  such  a  training, 
no  wonder  that  this  noble  race  soon  demonstrated  their  right  to  con 
trol  the  destinies  of  their  colony,  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war.  As 
the  country  filled  up,  new  counties  were  set  off,  and  the  delegates 
from  these  and  from  the  Piedmont  counties  of  kindred  blood,  together 
known  as  back  or  upper  counties,  began  to  control  the  House  of  Bur- 


118  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

gesses.  In  the  wars  \vhich  preceded  the  Revolution,  the  soldiers  of 
Virginia  were  mainly  drawn  from  this  section.  They  suffered  defeat 
with  "Washington  at  the  Meadows,  and  with  Braddock  at  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  and,  by  their  firmness,  saved  the  remnant  of  that  rash  gener 
al's  army.  They  won  the  signal  victory  at  Point  Pleasant,  in  1774, 
which  struck  terror  into  the  Indian  tribes  across  the  Ohio,  and  was  the 
prelude  to  the  War  of  Independence,  for  which  the  officers  engaged 
in  that  battle  at  once  offered  their  swords. 

In  1765,  when  England,  having  driven  the  French  from  North 
America,  began  her  oppressive  measures  against  her  own  colonies, 
and,  regardless  of  their  chartered  rights  and  the  English  constitution, 
imposed  a  stamp  tax  upon  them  through  a  Parliament  in  which  they 
had  no  representation,  it  was  the  youthful  son' of  a  Scotchman  who  in 
troduced  the  resolutions  into  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  denying 
the  validity  of  the  act,  which  aroused  the  continent  and  "  set  in  motion 
the  ball  of  the  Revolution."  And  it  was  Scotch-Irish  votes  that  se 
cured  their  passage,  against  the  combined  efforts  of  the  old  leaders  of 
the  House.  In  the  long  struggle  which  followed,  iu  which,  step  by 
step,  Virginia  led  her  sister  colonies  along  the  path  to  independence, 
it  was  the  same  bold  leader,  with  his  Scotch-Irish  cohorts,  that  directed 
her  steps.  Says  Mr.  Jefferson,  speaking  of  Mr.  Henry  to  Daniel 
Webster:  "  He  was  far  before  us  all  in  maintaining  the  spirit  of  the 
Revolution.  His  influence  was  most  extensive  with  the  members  from 
the  upper  counties,  and  his  boldness  and  their  votes  overawed  and 
controlled  the  more  cool  or  the  more  timid  aristocratic  gentlemen  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  state.  After  all,  it  must  be  allowed  that  he  was 
our  leader  in  the  measures  of  the  Revolution  in  Virginia." 

At  the  first  call  of  Congress  for  soldiers  to  defend  the  town  of 
Boston,  Daniel  Morgan,  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  at  once  raised  a  com 
pany  of  riflemen  among  his  people  in  the  lower  valley  of  Virginia, 
and,  by  a  forced  march  of  six  hundred  miles,  reached  the  beleaguered 
town  in  three  weeks.  His  company  was  but  the  advance  of  a  steady 
supply  of  soldiers  from  the  same  hardy  race,  which,  whether  in  the 
continental  line  or  the  militia  ranks,  made  glorious  the  name  of  Vir 
ginia  in  the  seven  years'  struggle  which  ensued.  To  the  soldiers  of 
this  blood,  it  was  given  to  turn  the  tide  of  war  at  more  than  one  crit 
ical  period  in  the  desperate  struggle  of  our  fathers  for  freedom.  It  is 
proper,  on  this  occasion,  to  recall  some  of  these  instances.  Morgan, 
after  distinguishing  himself  in  the  ill-fated  expedition  against  Canada, 
was  taken  prisoner  before  Quebec.  Upon  his  exchange,  he  returned 
to  the  valley  of  Virginia,  and  raised  a  corps  of  riflemen  from  among 
its  Scotch-Irish  people.  Joining  Washington,  he  was  sent  by  him  to 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   THE   SOUTH.  119 

aid  Gates  in  meeting  the  British  invasion  from  Canada  under  Bur 
goyne.  The  battle  of  Saratoga,  7th  October,  1777,  which  followed, 
is  included,  with  reason,  by  Creasy,  in  his  volume  entitled  "The  Fif 
teen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World,"  each  one  of  which  changed  the 
current  of  human  history.  Before  that  great  victory,  neither  in  Eng 
land  nor  on  the  continent  was  it  believed  that  the  American  patriots 
would  be  able  to  maintain  the  struggle  upon  which  they  had  entered. 
France,  the  hereditary  enemy  of  England,  was  anxious  to  assist  the 
revolted  colonies,  but  only  in  case  that  they  showed  themselves  capable 
of  continuing  the  conflict,  which  they  had  not  yet  done.  The  British 
campaign  for  1777  was  well  laid.  It  consisted  of  a  movement  from 
Canada  under  Burgoyne,  to  be  met  by  a  strong  force  from  New  York 
under  Clinton,  and  the  combined  army  to  isolate  and  conquer  New 
England.  The  American  army,  under  Gates,  was  between  Burgoyne 
and  Clinton,  and  must  needs  engage  and  overcome  Burgoyne  before 
the  arrival  of  Clinton,  or  be  itself  crushed  between  the  two  approaching 
armies. 

On  the  memorable  7th  October,  the  forces  of  Gates  and  Burgoyne 
met,  the  right  wing  of  the  British,  and  the  flower  of  the  army,  being 
led  by  the  brave  Scotchman,  General  Simon  Frazer,  the  idol  of  the 
army.  On  the  American  left,  was  the  equally  brave  Scotch-Irishman, 
Colonel  Morgan,  with  his  regiment  of  sharpshooters,  every  one  of 
whom  was  a  marksman.  In  the  desperate  battle  which  followed, 
Morgan  noticed  that  a  British  officer,  mounted  on  an  iron-gray  charger, 
was  most  active  in  the  fight,  and  that  wherever  he  rode  he  turned 
the  tide  of  battle.  It  was  the  gallant  Frazer.  Morgan  called  to 
Timothy  Murphy,  one  of  the  best  shots  in  his  regiment,  and  pointing 
to  the  British  officer  on  the  iron-gray  horse,  he  said,  "  Bring  him 
down."  At  the  crack  of  the  faithful  rifle,  the  British  officer  reeled  in 
his  saddle  and  fell.  The  forces  he  was  leading  at  once  became  con 
fused,  and  soon  fell  back.  '  The  crisis  was  passed,  and  the  battle,  upon 
which  hung  the  fate  of  America,  was  won.  In  a  few  days,  Burgoyne 
was  forced  to  surrender  his  whole  army.  When  introduced  to  Morgan, 
he  grasped  his  hand  and  said  :  "  Sir,  you  command  the  finest  regiment 
in  the  world."  The  news  of  the  victory  produced  an  entire  change  in 
European  policy.  France  at  once  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
the  American  states,  and  entered  into  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  them. 
War  between  her  and  England  followed,  and  soon  Spain  and  Holland 
joined  in  the  conflict.  With  their  aid,  the  American,  patriots  were 
enabled  to  maintain  the  struggle  four  years  longer,  till  finally  England 
gave  up  the  contest. 

But  during  that  four  years,  another  critical  period   arrived,  in 


120  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

which  the  stalwart  Scotch-Irish  soldiery,  by  one  memorable  battle, 
changed  the  face  of  the  war. 

Despairing  of  conquering  the  northern  states  with  Washington  to 
defend  them,  the  British  determined  to  attack  from  the  sea,  of  which 
they  were  the  masters,  the  southern  states,  and  to  subdue  them  in  de 
tail,  striking  first  at  Georgia,  the  weakest  of  them  all.  This  work  was 
committed  to  the  celebrated  Earl  Cornwallis,  and  no  one  was  more 
capable  of  executing  the  plan.  He  soon  overran  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina,  having  destroyed  two  American  armies  sent  to  check  him — 
the  first  under  General  Howe,  and  the  second  under  General  Gates. 
He  at  once  pushed  northward,  before  another  army  could  be  organized 
to  meet  him,  intending  to  overrun  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  in 
rapid  succession.  Indeed,  General  Leslie  was  already  in  Virginia, 
ready  to  join  him  on  his  arrival,  and,  in  the  meantime,  was  to  keep 
that  state,  if  possible,  from  sending  aid  to  her  southern  sisters. 

In  his  movement  northward,  Cornwallis  divided  his  army,  and 
sent  a  portion  of  it,  under  Colonel  Patrick  Ferguson,  an  accomplished 
Scotch  officer,  along  the  route  which  bordered  the  mountains  of  Caro 
lina.  His  force  threatened  the  Scotch-Irish  settlements  west  of  the 
mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  in  the  south-west  portion  of  Virginia. 
These  rapidly  organized  a  volunteer  force,  under  Colonels  Sevier, 
Shelby,  McDowell,  and  Campbell,  which  rendezvoused  at  the  "Watauga 
settlement,  in  what  is  now  East  Tennessee.  These  were  afterward 
joined  by  some  of  their  race  from  the  Caroliuas,  under  Colonels  Will 
iams  and  Cleaveland.  The  veteran  Colonel  William  Campbell,  from 
Virginia,  was  chosen  as  commander,  and  crossing  the  mountains  rap 
idly,  they  threw  themselves  in  the  path  of  Ferguson.  The  battle  of 
King's  Mountain  followed,  on  the  7th  October,  1880,  in  which  the  en 
tire  British  force  was  killed  or  captured.  Cornwallis  was  forced  to 
come  to  a  halt,  fall  back,  and  wait  for  reinforcements,  which  were 
drawn  from  the  British  force  in  Virginia.  Before  he  recovered  from 
the  blow,  General  Greene,  who  had  been  sent  by  Washington  to  or 
ganize  and  lead  another  army  against  the  invaders,  was  able  to  accom 
plish  the  task,  and  afterward,  by  his  masterly  movements,  to  so  cripple 
the  British  general  that  he  was  forced  to  abandon  his  conquests  and 
betake  himself  by  another  route  to  Virginia,  there  to  be  captured  by 
the  combined  American  and  French  armies.  Every  subsequent  event 
which  led  in  logical  succession  to  the  surrender  of  the  British  army  at 
Yorktown  an4  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  may  be  traced  to  that 
memorable  battle  at  King's  Mountain,  won  by  an  army  composed 
almost  entirely  of  Scotch-Irish  volunteers,  who  had  not  waited  for  the 
call  of  their  government,  but,  upon  the  rumored  approach  of  danger, 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  THE   SOUTH.  121 

had  sprung  to  arras  and  hastened  to  meet  it.  In  the  subsequent  bat 
tles  of  Cowpens  and  Guilford,  we  find  the  same  Scotch-Irish  element 
following  up  the  work  so  gloriously  begun  at  King's  Mountain. 

But  not  alone  in  these  and  other  battles  of  the  Revolution  did 
the  Scotch-Irish  of  Virginia  lay  their  country  under  never-ending 
obligations.  To  them  is  due  the  magnificent  domain  over  which  the 
original  thirteen  states  have  stretched  in  their  expansion  westward. 

By  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  the  western  boundary  of  the 
American  colonies  was  fixed  at  the  Mississippi  river.  England  after 
ward  extended  the  Canadian  government  over  the  territory  west  of 
the  Ohio  and  south  of  the  lakes,  and  established  a  chain  of  forts 
reaching  from  the  lakes  to  the  Mississippi,  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio.  This  territory  was  embraced  in  the  charter  of  Virginia,  and 
she  distinctly  claimed  it  in  1776,  on  assuming  state  sovereignty.  But 
it  was  held  by  British  troops,  who  at  the  same  time  continually  in 
stigated  the  Indians  to  murderous  raids  on  the  white  settlements 
south  and  east  of  the  Ohio.  Early  in  1778,  Governor  Henry  com 
missioned  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark  to  lead  a  secret  expedition 
against  these  north-western  forts,  with  a  view  of  occupying,  with  Vir 
ginia  troops,  the  territory  she  claimed.  Clark  collected  his  men  from 
the  Scotch-Irish  inhabitants  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  in  what  was  then 
Augusta  county,  and  from  the  district  of  Kentucky,  then  beginning 
to  be  peopled  by  the  same  race.  In  a  campaign  which  John  Ran 
dolph  has  aptly  compared  to  that  of  Hannibal  in  Italy,  he  possessed 
himself  of  the  British  posts  south  of  the  lakes,  capturing  Hamilton, 
the  British  governor,  and  securing  to  Virginia  the  entire  north 
west. 

This  campaign,  unsurpassed  in  daring,  and  unequaled  in  results 
by  any  recorded  in  history,  was  conducted  with  less  than  two  hun 
dred  Virginia  militia.  The  noble  commonwealth,  which  had  taken 
the  .first  steps  looking  to  Union,  finding  that  some  of  the  states  were 
reluctant  to  sign  the  confederation  while  Virginia  held  so  large  a  ter 
ritory,  with  unequaled  generosity  and  patriotism  ceded  her  entire  con 
quest  to  the  United  States,  and  thus  secured  the  Union.  "When 
England  and  Spain  in  succession  attempted  to  deprive  the  American 
states  of  this  magnificent  domain  during  the  negotiations  for  peace, 
the  American  commissioners,  under  direction  of  Congress,  relied  on 
the  conquest  of  Clark  and  subsequent  occupation  of  Virginia. 

The  rule  of  uti  possidetis  prevailed,'  and  independence  was 
acknowledged  by  Great  Britain,  with  the  Mississippi  as  our  western 
border.  Our  extension  to  the  Pacific  has  been  only  the  logical  result. 
Had  not  that  Scotch-Irish  band  of  heroes  wrested  from  the  British 


122  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

Lion  his  western  prey,  the  Alleghanies  or  the  Ohio  would  have  been 
our  western  border,  and  the  original  thirteen  states  skirting  the  At 
lantic  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  our  territorial  limits 
to-day. 

No  one  knew  better  than  Washington  the  sterling  qualities  of  this 
race,  and  he  paid  it  the  highest  compliment  ever  paid  to  any  people 
when,  in  the  darkest  moment  of  the  Revolution,  he  said,  that  if  all 
others  failed  him,  he  would  plant  his  standard  on  the  Blue  Ridge  of 
Virginia,  rally  around  him  the  people  of  the  valley,  and  make  his 
last  stand  for  the  liberties  of  America. 

Nor  has  the  virtue  in  the  blood  lost  its  power  of  making  heroes 
to  this  day.  It  was  from  this  people  that  the  immortal  Stonewall 
Jackson  sprang,  and  from  them  he  drew  the  troops  that  followed  him, 
and  excited  for  themselves  and  for  their  great  commander  the  admira 
tion  of  the  world. 

But,  however  glorious  in  war,  this  race  in  Virginia  have  won 
triumphs  in  the  peaceful  halls  of  legislation  no  less  beneficial  to  hu 
manity  than  any  won  on  battle-fields.  It  was  Scotch-Irish  blood  that 
moved  the  pen  that  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  first 
draft  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  and  the  divorce  between 
church  and  state.  The  influence  of  these  upon  the  history  of  the 
race  is  incalculable.  The  last  has  been  justly  described  as  the  con 
tribution  of  America  to  the  science  of  government.  Though  claimed 
by  the  founder  of  Christianity  and  his  early  followers,  religious 
liberty  was  never  accorded  to  the  Christian  Church.  The  state 
claimed  the  right  to  control  the  religious  beliefs  of  her  citizens,  and 
the  claim  was  not  relinquished  when  the  Christian  Church  formed  its 
unholy  alliance  with  the  state.  The  Reformers  of  the  fifteenth  century 
did  not  undertake  to  deny  this  power  of  the  state  over  the  church,  but 
in  their  creeds  appealed  to  the  state  to  enforce  the  penalties  pronounced 
by  church  courts.  In  Virginia  we  have  seen  there  was  a  church 
establishment,  and  toleration  was  all  that  the  Scotch-Irish  could'  ob 
tain  in  repayment  for  their  protection  of  the  western  border. 

In  1774,  we  find  their  Presbytery  petitioning  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  for  as  much  freedom  in  religious  matters  as  the  British  con 
stitution  afforded  in  secular  matters.  When  two  years  afterward, 
the  Virginia  convention,  after  taking  up  independence  for  herself,  and 
ordering  it  to  be  moved  in  Congress  for  America,  engaged  in  forming, 
as  a  basis  of  government,  a  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man,  the 
greatest  state  paper  ever  written,  the  same  voice  that  stirred  the  conti 
nent  to  resist  the  Stamp  Act,  moved  to  insert  as  one  of  the  inalien 
able  rights  of  man  his  right  to  worship  his  God  according  to  the 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   THE   SOUTH.  123 

dictates  of  his  conscience.  Adopted  into  the  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights, 
it  has  been  copied  into  every  constitution  in  America.  At  the  very 
next  session  of  the  Assembly,  the  same  Presbytery,  controlled  by 
Scotch-Irish  voices,  sent  a  memorial  written  by  a  Scotch-Irish  pen, 
held  by  Caleb  Wallace,  enlarging  upon  the  great  principle  embodied 
in  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  showing  its  guarantee  of  perfect  religious 
liberty.  It  was  following  in  their  wake  that  Jefferson  afterward  wrote 
his  celebrated  act  for  the  establishment  of  religious  liberty,  which  has 
effected  the  divorce  of  church  and  state,  not  only  in  Virginia,  but 
throughout  the  Union,  and  whose  principles  seem  destined  to  unfetter 
the  Christian  conscience  throughout  the  world.  Thus  there  was  com 
pleted  by  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Virginia,  in  1776,  the  reformation  com 
menced  by  Luther  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before. 

To  this  people  Virginia  is  indebted  also  for  her  earliest  educa 
tional  institutions  of  high  grade,  except  the  royal  college  of  William 
and  Mary;  and  one  of  their  number,  Thomas  Jefferson,  was  the 
founder  of  the  State  University. 

In  the  year  1736,  Henry  McCullock,  from  the  province  of  Ulster, 
obtained  a  grant  of  64,000  acres  in  the  present  county  of  Duplin, 
North  Carolina,  and  introduced  upon  it  between  three  and  four 
thousand  of  his  Scotch-Irish  countrymen  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 
About  the  same  time  the  Scotch  began  to  occupy  the  lower  Cape 
Fear,  and  after  the  defeat  of  the  Pretender,  at  Cullodeu,  in  1746, 
great  numbers  of  Scotch  Highlanders,  who  had  adhered  to  his  for 
tunes,  emigrated  to  North  Carolina,  taking  up  their  residence  in  the 
counties  of  Bladeu,  Cumberland,  Robeson,  Moore,  Richmond,  Harnett, 
Chatham,  and  Ansom,  and  giving  the  Scotch  the  ascendancy  in  the 
upper  Cape  Fear  region.  In  the  meantime,  the  current  of  emigration 
to  America  from  Ulster  had  become  a  bold  stream,  entering  the  con 
tinent  mainly  at  Philadelphia  and  flowing  westward.  Braddock's  de 
feat  rendering  border  life  dangerous,  many  of  the  new-comers  turned 
southward,  moving  parallel  to  tbe  Blue  Ridge  through  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  until  they  met  the  other  stream  of  their  countrymen 
which  was  moving  upward  from  Charleston  along  the  banks  of  the 
Santee,  Wateree,  Broad,  Pacolet,  Ennoree,  and  Saluda,  and  this  emi 
gration  to  North  Carolina  continued  for  forty  years,  till  checked  by 
the  Revolution. 

It  is  not  known  with  certainty  when  the  Scotch-Irish  were  first 
introduced  into  the  country  between  the  Dan  and  the  Catawba,  but 
they  were  found  in  the  counties  of  Granville,  Orange,  Rowan,  and 
Mecklenburg  previous  to  1750.  So  great  was  the  proportion  of  this 
race  in  North  Carolina  before  the  Revolution  that  they  may  be  said 


124  TELE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

to  have  given  direction  to  her  history.  With  their  advent  begins  the 
educational  history  of  the  state,  and  during  the  eighteenth  century 
that  history  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
One  name  stands  out  pre-eminent  in  this  history.  It  is  that  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  minister,  David  Caldwell,  whose  classical  school,  estab 
lished  in  1767  near  Greensborough,  was  the  Eton  of  the  south.  But 
besides  classical  schools  they  established  academies  and  colleges. 
Queen's  College,  located  in  the  town  of  Charlotte,  in  Mecklenburg 
county,  was  chartered  in  1770,  but  its  charter  was  repealed  by  George 
III.,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  "no  compliments  to  his  queen  could 
render  Whigs  in  politics  and  Presbyterians  in  religion  acceptable  to 
him."  It  continued,  however,  to  flourish  under  the  royal  frown,  and 
was  incorporated  in  1777  as  "  Liberty  Hall."  But  the  Revolution 
closed  its  doors,  and  Cornwallis  first  desecrated  it  by  quartering  his 
troops  within  it,  and  afterward  burned  the  buildings.  Davidson  Col 
lege,  in  the  northern  part  of  Mecklenburg  county,  established  by  the 
Presbyterians  long  after  the  war,  may  be  considered  the  successor  of 
this  venerable  institution,  which  was  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of 
patriotism. 

It  was  to  the  Scotch-Irish  delegates  that  is  due  the  credit  of  in 
serting  in  the  first  constitution  of  the  state  the  provision  for  a  state 
university,  which  has  proved  such  a  blessing  to  the  state  and  to  the 
South. 

In  North  Carolina,  as  in  Virginia,  this  race  was  earliest  in  claim 
ing  the  rights  of  freemen  against  British  oppression.  Indeed,  four 
years  before  the  battle  of  Lexington,  Scotch-Irish  blood  was  shed  in 
North  Carolina  by  a  royal  governor,  simply  because  the  people  dared 
ask  redress  for  tyrannous  abuses.  Governor  Tryon,  instigated  by  one 
of  the  worst  of  men,  David  Fanning,  first  caused  the  complainants  to 
be  indicted  by  a  packed  grand  jury,  and  then  marched  against  them 
with  an  army,  and,  treating  them  as  outlaws,  shot  down  and  hung 
some  thirty  of  them.  It  is  known  in  history  as  the  War  of  the  Regu 
lators.  Says  Bancroft  concerning  it:  "  The  blood  of  rebels  against 
oppression  was  first  shed  among  the  settlers  on  the  branches  of  the 
Cape  Fear  river."  Says  Alexander,  speaking  of  this  engagement  on 
the  Alamance,  16th  May,  1771:  "These  Regulators  were  not  adven 
turers,  but  the  sturdy,  patriotic  members  of  three  Presbyterian  con 
gregations,  all  of  them  having  as  their  pastors  graduates  of  Princeton. 
Mr.  Caldwell  was  one  of  them,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the  battle,  was 
on  the  ground,  going  from  one  side  to  the  other,  endeavoring  to  pre 
vent  the  catastrophe." 

As  a  result  of  this  merciless  attack  upon  a  patriotic  people,  they 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   THE  SOUTH.  125 

left   their   homes,  crossed   the  mountains  to  the  west,  and   laid    the 
foundation  on  the  Watauga  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

While  the  Scotch,  who  had  emigrated  to  North  Carolina  after  the 
battle  of  Culloden,  considered  themselves  bound  by  their  oath  of  alle 
giance  to  side  with  the  king  in  the  American  Revolution,  and  were 
generally  Tories,  the  Scotch-Irish  of  that  colony  were  among  the  fore 
most  of  the  patriots.  In  no  locality  was  their  zeal  more  conspicuous 
than  in  the  counties  of  Mecklenburg  and  Rowan.  Tarleton,  in  his 
memoirs,  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that  those  counties  were  the  mo.-t 
rebellious  in  America,  and  Coruwallis  designated  Mecklenburg  county 
as  "  the  hornet's  nest  of  the  Revolution." 

When  the  people  of  this  county  heard  of  the  battle  of  Lexington, 
they  did  not  wait  for  others  to  move  with  them,  but  at  once  assumed 
the  powers  of  government. 

It  is  due  to  her  Scotch-Irish  people,  also,  that  North  Carolina  is 
entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  the  first  colony  that  authorized  her  dele 
gates  in  Congress  to -vote  for  independence. 

Dr.  David  Ramsey,  the  historian  of  South  Carolina,  after  giving 
the  various  sources  of  the  population  of  that  colony  from  its  first  set 
tlement,  and  according  full  prominence  to  the  Huguenots,  adds:  "  Be 
sides  foreign  Protestants,  several  persons  from  England  and  Scotland 
resorted  to  Carolina  after  the  peace  of  1763.  But  of  all  other  coun 
tries,  none  has  furnished  the  province  with  so  many  inhabitants  as  Ire 
land.  Scarce  a  ship  sailed  from  any  of  its  ports  for  Charleston  that 
was  not  crowded  with  men,  women,  and  children."  .  .  .  t "About 
this  time,  above  a  thousand  families  from  the  northward  (Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia),  with  their  effects,  in  the  space  of  one  year,  resorted  to 
South  Carolina,  driving  their  cattle,  hogs,  and  horses  overland  before 
them.  Lands  were  allotted  them  in  its  western  woods,  which  soon 
became  the  most  populous  parts  of  the  province." 

These  were  Scotch-Irish,  and  it  is  to  them  he  refers  later  when  he 
says:  "  The  Scotch  and  the  Dutch  were  the  most  useful  emigrants. 
They  both  brought  with  them,  and  generally  retained  in  an  eminent 
degree,  the  virtues  of  industry  and  economy,  so  peculiarly  nece>s;iry 
in  a  new  country.  To  the  former,  South  Carolina  is  indebted  for 
much  of  its  early  literature.  A  great  proportion  of  its  physicians, 
clergymen,  lawyers,  and  schoolmasters  were  from  North  Britain." 

These  settlers  in  the  western  part  of  the  colony  were  long  without 
the  protection  of  law  administered  through  judicial  tribunals,  and,  <  f 
necessity,  were  forced  to  band  themselves  together  to  punish  crime,  of 
which  the  most  frequent  and  irritating  was  horse-stealing.  Against 
them,  the  royal  governor,  Montague,  sent  a  man  named  Scouil,  in 


126  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

1764,  with  an  army,  and  with  great  difficulty  a  civil  war  was  averted. 
Fortunately,  the  establishment  of  courts,  in  1769,  pacified  the  country. 
The  division  thus  created  was  not  obliterated,  but  reappeared  in  1775, 
on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  when  the  Regulators,  as  they 
were  called,  became  Whigs,  and  the  Scouilites,  as  the  other  party  had 
been  called,  became  Tories.  Before  and  during  the  Revolution,  the 
Scotch-Irish  in  Western  South  Carolina,  as  in  North  Carolina,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Pennsylvania,  were  the  defenders  of  the  border  against  the 
hostile  Indian  tribes  beyond. 

But  this  did  not  relieve  them  of  the  duty  of  fighting  the  British 
coming  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

In  the  terrible  fate  that  overtook  South  Carolina  during  that 
struggle,  when  Cornwallis  rode  rough-shod  over  the  devoted  state,  it 
was  to  her  noblest  son,  Governor  John  Rutledge,  a  Scotch-Irishman,  that 
the  destinies  of  the  state  were  committed.  Unable  to  meet  the  haughty 
invader  in  the  open  field,  the  little  bands  of  patriots  who  survived  the 
trying  ordeal,  gathered  in  the  east  around  the  standard  of  Marion,  and 
in  the  north  and  west  around  the  standards  of  Sumter  and  Pickens. 
These  devoted  men  kept  alive  the  flame  of  liberty  in  the  swamps  of 
South  Carolina,  while  the  British  tyrant  was  stamping  it  out  where- 
ever  its  flicker  could  be  discovered.  When  the  brutal  oppressor  be 
lieved  it  was  entirely  extinguished,  it  burst  forth  in  electric  flashes, 
striking  and  withering  the  proud  invader. 

Through  the  veins  of  these  incomparable  leaders  and  their  brave 
troops  Scotch-Irish  blood  coursed,  and  gave  nerve  Lto  the  arms  which 
struck  for  liberty. 

Of  the  famous  Andrew  Pickens  we  have  a  pen-picture  by  his 
brilliant  companion  in  arms,  Light-horse  Harry  Lee,  which  is  so 
typical  of  a  Scotch-Irishman,  that  it  may  be  well  reproduced  here. 

"  He  was  a  sincere  believer  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  a  de 
vout  observer  of  the  Presbyterian  form  of  worship.  His  frame  was 
sinewy  and  active ;  his  habits  were  simple,  temperate,  and  industrious. 
His  characteristics  were  taciturnity  and  truth,  prudence  and  decision, 
modesty  and  courage,  disinterestedness  and  public  spirit." 

In  South  Carolina,  as  elsewhere,  this  people  provided  schools 
and  churches  for  their  communities,  and  have  been  foremost  in  ad 
vancing  the  interests  of  the  state. 

Georgia  was  the  youngest  of  the  old  thirteen  colonies,  but,  like 
those  north  of  her,  she  was  indebted  to  this  race  for  some  of  her  best 
population.  As  early  as  1735  a  colony  from  the  Highlands  of  Scot 
land  were  conducted  to  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  river,  and  thence 
southward  to  New  Inverness,  on  the  Alatamaha  river.  When  told  on 


THE   SCOTCH  IRISH   OF   THE  SOUTH  127 

the  way  that  the  Spaniards  would  shoot  them  from  (heir  fort  near  by 
their  new  home,  they  replied,  "  Why,  then,  we  will  beat  them  out  of 
their  fort,  and  shall  have  houses  ready  built  to  live  in."  This  valiant 
spirit  never  flagged  in  the  subsequent  war  with  Spain  and  the  Revolu 
tion  ,  and  it  is  hard  to  estimate  the  services  to  Georgia  rendered  by  the 
McKays  and  Macintoshes  who  came  from  this  settlement. 

Before  the  Revolution,  however,  emigration  from  the  Carolinas 
set  in  toward  North  Georgia,  bringing  many  Scotch-Irish  families. 
Governor  Gilmer,  in  1855,  describes  the  community  they  formed,  with 
till  the  privations  and  simple  enjoyments  of  their  life,  and  his  descrip 
tion  is  applicable  to  all  their  new  settlements.  Among  other  things, 
he  says:  "The  pretty  girls  were  dressed  in  striped  and  checked  cot 
ton  cloth,  spun  and  woven  with  their  own  hands,  and  their  sweet 
hearts  in  sumach  and  walnut  dyed  stuff,  made  by  their  mothers.  Court 
ing  was  done  when  riding  to  meeting  on  Sunday,  and  walking  to  the 
spring  when  there.  Newly  married  couples  went  to  see  the  old  folks  on 
Saturday,  and  carried  home  on  Sunday  evening  what  they  could  spare. 
There  was  no  ennui  among  the  women  for  want  of  something  to  do. 
If  there  had  been  leisure  to  read,  there  were  but  few  books  for  the  in 
dulgence.  Hollow  trees  supplied  cradles  for  babies.  The  fine  voices 
which  are  now  heard  in  the  pulpit  and  at  the  bar  from  the  first  na 
tive  Georgians  began  their  practice  by  crying  when  infants  for  want 
of  good  nursing." 

These  settlers  were  of  the  kindred  of  Andrew  JacKson  and 
Thomas  H.  Benton. 

Besides  these,  the  Scotch-Irish  who  had  followed  the  Alleghanies 
had  not  ceased  their  southward  movements  until,  crossing  the  Savan 
nah  river,  they  had  entered  the  northern  portion  of  Georgia. 

Later,  and  after  the  Revolution,  some  of  the  Virginians  who  had 
served  in  Georgia,  notably  General  George  Mathews,  induced  a 
colony  from  Albemarle  and  the  valley  of  Virginia  to  move  to  the 
north  of  Georgia,  and  they  settled  along  the  Broad  river.  Among 
these  were,  of  course,  a  strong  infusion  of  Scotch-Irish  blood. 

The  subsequent  prosperity  of  Georgia  is  attributed  in  large 
measure  to  these  people  and  their  descendants  by  Governor  Gilmer. 
From  them,  he  tells  us,  the  blood  was  scattered  throughout  the  south 
ern  and  southwestern  states. 

A  race  which  so  completely  filled  the  western  side  of  the  old 
colonies  was  naturally  that  which  would  soonest  occupy  the  country 
still  further  westward,  extending  to  the  Mississippi. 

This  came  to  pass.  As  the  Scotch-Irish  increased,  they  pressed 
upon  the  Indians,  driving  them  westward  until,  early  in  the  nine- 


128  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

teenth  century,  but  few  of  the  native  tribes  were  left  east  of  the  great 
river.  Only  a  short  notice  of  these  new  states  in  the  southern  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  need  be  given. 

Kentucky  was  settled  by  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  Thomas  Walker,  of  Virginia,  first  explored  it  in  1747  ;  John 
Finley,  of  North  Carolina,  followed  in  1767 ;  and  afterward,  in  1769, 
he,  with  Daniel  Boone,  John  Stewart,  and  three  others,  all  from  the 
same  colony,  penetrated  to  the  Kentucky  river.  By  the  year  1773, 
the  whites  began  to  take  up  lands,  and  afterward  there  was  a  steady 
stream  of  emigrants,  almost  entirely  from  the  valley  and  southwest 
Virginia,  and,  of  course,  of  Scotch-Irish  blood.  A  roll  of  the  Pres 
bytery  in  1802  shows  a  list  of  forty-three  names,  nearly  every  one  of 
which  is  Scotch-Irish,  and  the  families  that  first  constituted  the  county 
of  Kentucky  can  nearly  every  one  be  found  in  a  history  of  the  Vir 
ginia  valley.  Often  the  transplanting  gave  additional  vigor  to  the 
scions,  and  the  Clarks,  the  Browns,  the  Breckenridges,  the  Campbells, 
the  Bullitts,  the  Wallaces,  the  Robertsons,  the  Prestons,  the  Todds, 
the  Rices,  the  McKees,  and  others,  rose  to  greater  eminence  in  Kentucky 
than  had  ever  been  attained  in  Virginia. 

The  Indian  name,  Can-tuck-kee,  meaning  "the  dark  and  bloody 
ground,"  was  given  to  it  by  the  savages,  because  it  was  the  hunting- 
ground  on  which  the  northern  and  southern  tribes  met  in  constant 
conflict.  The  whites  found  it  well  deserved  the  name,  as  the  Indians 
ceased  to  fight  each  other  in  their  common  hostility  to  the  settlers, 
against  whom  they  waged  continuous  war.  The  prediction  of  the 
Cherokee  chief  to  Boone  at  the  treaty  at  Watauga,  ceding  the  terri 
tory  to  Henderson  and  his  associates,  was  fully  verified.  "  Brother," 
said  he,  "  we  have  given  you  a  fine  land,  but  I  believe  you  will  have 
much  trouble  in  settling  it."  Any  other  race  would  probably  have 
abandoned  the  effort,  or  rather  never  undertaken  it.  No  border  an 
nals  teem  with  more  thrilling  incidents  or  heroic  exploits  than  those 
of  the  Kentucky  hunters,  whose  very  name  at  length  struck  terror 
into  the  heart  of  the  stoutest  savage.  The  people  developed  in  the 
midst  of  constant  danger  into  a  bold,  independent,  and  magnanimous 
community. 

So  thoroughly  was  Kentucky  settled  by  this  race  that  it  may  be 
called  a  Scotch-Irish  state. 

The  state  of  Tennessee  was  the  daughter  of  North  Carolina,  and 
was  first  settled  by  the  Scotch-Irish  driven  over  the  mountains  by  the 
cruel  war  of  the  Regulators,  as  we  have  seen.  Upon  no  field  has  this 
remarkable  race  shown  to  greater  advantage  than  upon  the  soil  of 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  THE   SOUTH.  129 

Tennessee,  but  as  they  have  been  assigned  to  the  special  care  of  one 
more  competent  than  myself  for  the  task,  I  will  not  trench  upon  his 
domain. 

Mississippi  and  Alabama,  which  were  cleared  of  the  dominion  of 
the  warlike  Creeks  early  in  the  century  by  Andrew  Jackson  and  his 
band  of  Tennesseans  and  Georgians,  were  filled  up  by  settlers  from 
the  adjacent  states,  and  these  were  necessarily  largely  Scotch-Irish  in 
their  descent.  And  so  after  the  Louisiana  purchase  in  1803,  Louis 
iana,  Missouri,  and  Arkansas  were  successively  brought  into  the 
Union,  with  a  population  drawn  in  great  measure  from  the  nearest 
Scotch-Irish  communities.  Florida  also,  when  acquired  from  the 
Spaniards,  received  her  quota  of  this  people.  But  among  all  these 
new  states  a  strong  infusion  is  found  of  Virginia  blood,  drawn  in  large 
measure  from  Scotch-Irish  veins. 

The  last  and  the  largest  of  the  southern  states  which  entered  the 
Union  was  Texas,  and  we  are  indebted  to  a  Scotch-Irishman  from  the 
Virginia  valley  for  this  principality. 

Samuel  Houston,  a  native  of  Rockbridge  county,  Virginia,  saved 
Texas  from  Mexican  dominion  by  his  celebrated  victory  over  Santa 
Anna  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  21st  April,  1836.  He  became  the 
first  president  of  the  independent  State  of  Texas  on  22d  October  fol 
lowing,  and,  during  his  term,  took  the  first  step  toward  its  annexation 
to  the  United  States,  which  was  accomplished  in  1845.  In  the  mean 
time,  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  population  from  the  southern 
states  was  pouring  into  its  borders,  which,  of  course,  was  largely 
Scotch-Irish  in  its  origin. 

In  the  wars  which  succeeded  the  Revolution,  the  United  States 
have  been  greatly  indebted  to  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  South  for  their 
renown  in  arms. 

It  was  with  troops  of  this  blood  that  the  Scotch-Irish  General 
Andrew  Jackson,  in  1814,  broke  the  power  of  the  Creek  Indians  in 
Alabama,  drove  the  British  from  Florida,  and  defeated  Wellington's 
soldiers,  under  his  brother-in-law,  Sir  Edward  Packenham,  at  New 
Orleans.  In  the  war  with  Mexico,  no  fighting  was  surpassed  by  that 
of  southern  volunteers,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Scotch-Irishman, 
Zachary  Taylor. 

In  the  war  between  the  states,  time  would  fail  me  to  even  men 
tion  the  Scotch-Irish  heroes  who  followed  the  Confederate  flag. 

I  have  thus  hastily  glanced  at  the  diffusion  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
over  the  southern  states,  and,  in  doing  so,  it  has  become  apparent  that 
a   history  of  this   race  would   be  a  history  of  the   southern  states. 
9 


130  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

Certainly,  as  to  the  South,  they  are  bone  of  its  bone  and  flesh  of  its 
flesh. 

The  task  would  be  almost  endless  to  simply  call  the  names  of  this 
people  in  the  South  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the  annals 
of  their  country.  Yet  some  rise  before  me,  whose  names  demand  ut 
terance  in  any  mention  of  their  people — names  which  the  world  will 
not  willingly  let  die. 

Among  the  statesmen  they  have  given  to  the  world  are  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Calhoun,  Benton. 

Among  the  orators,  Henry,  Rutledge,  Preston,  McDuffie,  Yancy. 

Among  the  poets,  the  peerless  Poe. 

Among  the  jurists,  Marshall,  Campbell,  Robertson. 

Among  the  divines,  Waddell,  the  Alexanders,  Breckinridge, 
Robinson,  Plummet,  Hoge,  Hawks,  Fuller,  McKendree. 

Among  the  physicians,  McDowell,  Sims,  McGuire. 

Among  the  inventors,  McCormick. 

Among  the  soldiers,  Lee,  the  Jacksons,  the  Johnstons,  Stuart. 

Among  the  sailors,  Paul  Jones,  Buchanan. 

Presidents  from  the  South,  seven — Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe, 
Jackson,  Taylor,  Polk,  Johnson. 

Great  as  this  race  has  been  in  victorious  war  and  prosperity,  it 
has  been  greater  in  defeat  and  adversity.  Struck  down  at  Appomattox, 
the  South  lay  helpless  at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror,  pale  from  loss  of 
her  best  blood,  impoverished  by  the  hand  of  the  despoiler,  and  held 
in  the  embrace  of  an  inferior  race.  Her  prostrate  form  seemed  to  be 
in  the  grasp  of  death.  It  was  then  I  heard  the  clear  voice  of  one  of 
her  greatest  orators  repeating  over  her  the  impassioned  words  of  Romeo 
over  the  body  of  Juliet — 

"  Death  that  hath  sucked  the  honey  of  thy  breath, 
Hath  had  no  power  yet  upon  thy  beauty. 
Thou  art  not  conquered ;  beauty's  ensign  yet 
Is  crimson  in  thy  lips  and  in  thy  cheeks, 
And  death's  pale  flag  is  not  advanced  there." 

It  was  as  the  voice  of  prophecy  recalling  her  to  consciousness.  The 
indomitable  Scotch-Irish  blood  still  coursed  in  her  veins.  She  arose, 
not  like  Juliet,  to  suicidal  despair,  but  to  renewed  hope  and  a  new  life, 
with  fresh  strength  drawn  from  the  embrace  of  mother  earth.  With 
head  erect  and  her  eyes  fixed  on  God,  she  commenced  a  new  career. 
A  quarter  of  a  century  has  not  passed,  and  we  see  her  to-day,  her 
pallor  replaced  by  the  crimson  tide  of  life,  and  her  every  motion  in- 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   THE   SOUTH.  131 

stinct  with  the  genius  of  progress.  Generous  nature  whispers  her 
secrets,  decks  her  with  richest  treasures,  and  points  her  the  way  to 
prosperity.  With  unswerving  faith  in  the  God  of  her  fathers,  and 
unfaltering  steps,  she  presses  onward  and  upward,  her  right  hand  lift 
ing  to  the  kiss  of  heaven  her  spotless  banner,  displaying  the  emblazoned 
legend,  Sic  itur  ad  astra. 


132  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICA. 


SCOTCH-IRISH  OF   TENNESSEE. 

BY   REV.   D.    C.   KELLEY,   D.D. 

In  this  honorable  presence,  it  is  well  to  express,  in  the  beginning 
of  what  I  shall  attempt  to  say,  my  regret  that  the  task  assigned  me 
had  not  fallen  into  far  moro  competent  hands. 

I  had  little  dreamed,  when  I  began  the  inadequate  study  I  have 
had  time  and  opportunity  to  make,  of  the  richness  of  the  mine  into 
which  I  was  to  strike  my  pick.  My  childhood  had  been  amused,  my 
wonder  aroused,  and  my  ambition  for  a  virtuous  life  kindled  around 
the  fireside  where  tales  of  a  Scotch-Irish  ancestry  were  the  theme  of 
the  winter  evening  talk.  When  the  true  magnitude  of  the  work  be 
fore  me  began  to  appear,  I  should  have  quickly  withdrawn  my  prom 
ise  to  speak  for  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Tennessee,  had  it  not  been  for  a 
sense  of  obligation  to  those  teachers  of  my  childhood.  The  traditions 
of  childhood  mingling  with  ancestral  blood  bade  me  do  what  the  race 
has  ever  done — "  my  simple  duty  as  best  I  could."  As  my  best  apol 
ogy,  however,  for  standing  here,  allow  me  to  make  good  my  right  by 
blood.  Perhaps  few  of  the  race  have  claims  of  earlier  date.  My  pa 
ternal  blood  speaks  for  itself,  going  back  to  the  early  Irish  chiefs,  to 
which  is  added  the  Thompson  blood  of  North  Ireland.  My  maternal 
claims  are  as  follows : 

Before  the  work  of  royal  plantations  in  Ireland  had  begun,  as  early 
as  1584,  "  a  thousand  Scotch  Highlanders,  called  Redshanks,  of  the 
septs  and  families  of  the  Campbells,  Macdonnells,  and  Magalanes,  led 
by  Surleboy,  a  Scottish  chieftain,  invaded  Ulster.  These  invaders  in 
time  intermarried  with  the  Irish,  and  became  the  most  formidable  ene 
mies  of  Englaud  in  her  designs  of  settlement.  It  was  ostensibly  to 
root  out  this  Scottish  colony  that  Elizabeth  sent  Essex  to  Ireland  ;  but 
his  failure  only  fixed  them  more  firmly  in  their  place." 

But  a  more  singular  settlement  than  this  of  the  Scotch  Red 
shanks  was  one  effected  by  private  speculation,  namely,  that  of  the 
Montgomeries  in  the  Ardes  of  Down.*  The  head  of  this  new  and  im 
portant  settlement  in  the  Ardes  was  Hugh  Montgomery,  the  sixth  laird 
(esquire)  of  Braidstane,  in  Scotland  ;  his  father  had  married  the  daugh 
ter  of  Montgomery,  laird  of  Haislhead,  an  ancient  family  descended 
of  the  earls  of  Eglintown.  The  first  laird  of  the  name,  Robert  Mont 
gomery,  was  second  son  of  Alexander  Montgomery,  earl  of  Eglintown. 

*  Montgomery  Papers. 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF    TENNESSEE.  133 

Hugh,  the  leader  of  the  Moutgomeries  into  Ireland,  was  thus  a  well 
descended  adventurer,  and  iu  addition  to  his  good  birth  he  possessed 
spirit  and  talent.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  his  settlement  in 
Down  are  these  :  In  1603,  an  affray  took  place  in  Belfast,  between  a 
party  of  soldiers  and  some  servants  of  Conn  O'Neill,  who  had  been 
sent  with  runlets  to  bring  wine  from  that  town  to  their  master,  "  then  in 
great  debauch  at  Castlereagh  with  his  brothers,  friends,  and  follow 
ers."  The  servants  came  back  with  more  blood  than  wine,  having  got 
into  a  melee  with  some  soldiers,  who  captured  the  servants  and  sent 
home  the  messengers  with  a  severe  handling.  They  confessed  to 
Conn  that  they  were  more  numerous  than  the  soldiers,  on  which,  "  in 
rage,  he  swore  by  his  father,  and  by  all  his  noble  ancestors'  souls,  that 
none  of  them  should  ever  serve  him  or  his  family  if  they  went  not 
back  forthwith  and  did  not  revenge  the  affront  done  to  him  and  them 
selves  by  those  few  Baddagh  Sassenach."  The  result  was  a  violent  affray, 
and  some  of  the  soldiers  were  killed.  An  office  of  inquest  was  held 
upon  Conn  and  his  followers,  and  a  number  of  them  were  found 
guilty  of  levying  war  on  the  queen.  O'Neill  was  sent  to  prison  to 
Carrickfergus,  and  Elizabeth  in  the  meantime  dying,  the  Laird  Mont 
gomery,  who  knew  these  matters  well,  with  thrift  speed  which  became 
his  country,  made  his  humble  application  to  the  new  Scotch  monarch 
for  half  Conn's  estates,  leaving  the  remainder  to  Conn  himself.  But 
the  modest  proposal  was  not  accepted,  and  he  hit  upon  a  happier  ex 
pedient,  which  was  to  obtain  a  grant  from  Conn  O'Neill  himself  of 
half  his  lands  on  the  condition  of  effecting  his  escape  and  giving  him 
a  shelter.  The  grant  was  obtained.  Some  change  was  subsequently 
made  in  these  letters,  by  the  intervention  of  a  courtier  of  the  name 
of  Sir  James  Fullerton,  one  of  "  the  busiest  bodies  iu  all  the  world  in 
other  men's  matters  which  may  profit  themselves,"  who  having  an  eye 
for  a  friend,  Mr.  James  Hamilton,  and  anxious  to  obtain  for  him  a 
share  of  Conn's  lands,  represented,  in  a  courtier's  way,  that  the  two 
moieties  granted  were  too  large  for  two  men,  forgetting  or  omitting 
the  small  circumstance  that  they  were  their  own  by  right,  and  pre 
vailed  on  the  king  to  make  a  fresh  division.  "  But  the  king,  sending 
first  for  Sir  Hugh,  told  him  (respecting  the  reasons  aforesaid)  for  what 
loss  he  mijrht  receive  in  not  getting  the  full  half  of  Conn's  estate,  by 
that  defalcation,  he  would  compensate  him  out  of  the  Abbey  lands 
and  impropriations,  which  iu  a  few  months  he  was  to  grant  in  fee, 
they  being  already  granted  in  lease  for  twenty-one  years,  and  that  he 
would  also  abstract,  out  of  Conn's  half,  the  whole  great  Ardes  for  his 
and  Mr.  James  Hamilton's  behoof,  and  throw  it  into  their  two  shares  ; 
that  the  sea-coasts  might  be  possessed  by  Scottish  men,  who  would  be 


134  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

traders  proper  for  his  majesty's  future  advantage,  the  residue  to  be 
laid  off  about  Castlereagh  (which  Conn  had  desired),  being  too  great 
a  favor  for  such  an  Irishman." 

Whether  the  Campbells,  Montgomery's,  and  Hamiltons  were 
known  to  each  other  in  Ireland,  tradition  does  not  tell.  We  find 
from  these  Campbells  Duncan  Campbell,  whose  son,  John  Campbell, 
came  from  Donegal,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Donegal  township,  Lan 
caster  county,  Pensylvania.  His  descendants  passed  down  the  val 
ley  of  the  Shenandoah  to  South-western  Virginia,  where  we  find 
among  the  branches  on  an  old  family  tree,  revived  and  added  to 
from  time  to  time,  General  William  Campbell,  of  King's  Mountain 
fame,  and  his  grandson,  Win.  C.  Preston ;  the  brothers,  Colonel  Ar 
thur  and  Captain  John  Campbell,  of  Virginia  (the  latter  of  whom  was 
the  father  of  Governor  David  Campbell,  of  Virginia)  ;  Judge  David, 
of  the  State  of  Franklin,  afterward  the  State  of  Tennessee,  with  their 
cousin  and  brother-in-law,  Colonel  David,  of  Campbell's  station,  East 
Tennessee;  his  son,  General  John  Campbell,  of  the  War  of  1812; 
grandson,  Governor  William  B.  Campbell,  of  Tennessee.  Another 
branch  bears  upon  it  the  name  of  the  gallant  Confederate,  General 
Alex.  W.  Campbell,  of  West  Tennessee.  Scotch-Irish  on  both  sides. 

From  these  before-mentioned  Montgomerys,  we  find  in  North 
Carolina,  at  Saulsbury,  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  Hugh  Montgomery, 
who  equipped  a  regiment  of  patriots  for  the  Continental  army — a  man 
with  the  shrewd  business  characteristics  of  his  ancestors.  .  From  him 
we  trace  the  children,  Hugh  and  Jane;  Hugh,  the  father  of  Major 
Lemuel  P.  Montgomery,  a  brilliant  young  lawyer  of  Nashville,  who 
fell  leading  a  dashing  charge  at  the  battle  of  Horseshoe,  and  for  whom 
the  fair  city  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  is  called;  and  Hugh,  a  lawyer  of 
Chattanooga,  for  whom  the  beautiful  avenue  in  that  city  is  named. 
Jane  became  the  wife  of  Samuel  Cowan,  the  first  merchant  of  Knox- 
ville;  later,  was  married  to  Colonel  David  Campbell,  before  mentioned, 
a  private  in  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  the  founder  of  Campbell's 
Station,  near  Knoxville.  Of  this  union  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Camp 
bells  and  Montgomerys,  your  annalist  of  to-day  is,  in  the  second  gen 
eration,  the  only  living  representative.  Three  of  his  children  have  in 
their  veins  the  added  blood  of  the  Hamiltons,  Hays,  and  Cunnynghams. 
And  yet  two  other  Scotch-Irish  additions,  the  history  of  which  is  here 
given  as  an  illustration  of  the  methods  by  which  this  blood  has  beeu 
so  widely  spread  in  our  country : 

John  Bowen,  a  wealthy  planter  of  Lancaster  county,  Pennsyl 
vania,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  times,  at  harvest,  gathered  the  lads 
and  lassies  of  the  surrounding  country  to  his  harvesting.  One  of 


BOOTH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  135 

these,  Lilly  Mcllheuny,  by  her  grace  and  beauty,  so  attracted  the  old 
bachelor's  heart  that  he  bowed  at  the  shrine  of  matrimony.  From 
this  marriage  came  Captain  William  Bowen,  the  Indian  fighter,  and 
the  more  celebrated  Reese  Bowen,  who  was  killed  at  King's  Mountain. 
Captain  William  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Sumner  county; 
the  father  of  John  H.  Boweu,  lawyer,  and  idol  of  his  county  of  Sum 
ner,  and  of  whom  the  venerable  Judge  Thomas  Barry  says,  he  was 
the  best  and  most  loved  man  he  ever  knew.  Such  was  his  reputation 
for  probity,  that  the  juries  gave  him  credence  when  he  differed  with 
the  court  on  a  point  of  law  ;  he  was  elected  to  Congress  before  he  was  of 
the  age  to  take  his  seat.  His  sister  married  David  Campbell,  a  son  of 
Colonel  David  Campbell,  and  brother  of  General  John  Campbell,  of 
the  war  of  1812.  This  David  Campbell  and  Catherine  Bowen  were 
the  father  and  mother  of  Governor  William  B.  Campbell,  of  our  good 
State  of  Tennessee.  Speaking,  therefore,  for  our  home,  your  annalist 
and  his  wife,  daughter  of  W.  B.  Campbell,  represent,  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  blood,  the  united  strains  of  the  Kelleys,  the  Thompsons,  the 
Montgomerys,  the  Hamiltons,  the  Mcllhennys,  the  Cunninghams, 
Hays,  and  Adarns. 

My  only  claim  to  be  heard  is  the  blood  that  tingles  in  my  veins, 
and  the  love  aud  veneration  in  which  I  hold  the  race  which  first  spoke 
for  independence  on  American  soil,  which  poured  out  the  first  blood 
for  liberty  from  "taxation  without  representation,"  and  which,  in  the 
language  of  Bancroft  (Ransey,  p.  102),  when  defeated  in  the  first 
battle  of  the  Revolution  (Alamance),  "  like  the  mammoth,  they  shook 
the  bolt  from  their  brow  and  crossed  the  mountains."  Of  this  mam 
moth,  Tennessee  is  the  child — I  speak  for  this  goodly  child  on  her  own 
soil  in  the  fairest  domain  of  America — in  old  Maury,  par  excellence  the 
home  of  the  race,  which,  having  spoke  first  for  American  independence, 
made  good  her  words  with  the  first  blow  to  tyranny.  The  race  which 
gave  to  liberty  not  only  the  first  blood,  but  if  we  are  to  accept  the  au 
thority  of  the  author  of  the  "  Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution,"  twice  at 
the  most  critical  juncture  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle, 

CUT   THE    COILS 

of  the  anaconda,  which,  with  its  head  on  the  lakes  and  its  extremities 
in  Southern  Georgia,  combined  in  one  gigantic  plan,  embracing  British 
power  and  pelf  combined  with  Indian  hate  and  lust  of  gain,  threatened 
to  crush  by  a  single  concerted  movement  the  hopes  of  the  young 
America.  Nursed  in  the  heart  of  this  race,  the  mammoth  of  liberty 
has  proven  thenceforward  not  only  too  strong  to  be  held  in  restraint 
by  the  coils  of  the  anaconda  of  tyranny  in  America,  but  has  become 
the  apostle  of  freedom  to  all  the  world. 


136  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMERICA. 

The  contribution  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Tennessee  have  to  bring  to 
this  honorable  gathering  would  be  a  meaningless  fragment  without  a 
few  words  showing  the  origin  of  the  race,  and  tracing  the  source  of 
their  marked  characteristics. 

WHY  HAVE  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  CONTRIBUTED  MORE  TO  CONSTITUTIONAL 
LIBERTY  THAN  ANY  OTHER  PEOPLE  ? 

In  the  little  sketch  of  the  immigration,  as  early  as  1584,  of  the 
Scotch  Campbells,  McDonnells,  Montgomerys,  and  Hamiltons  into  Ire 
land,  given  in  our  introduction,  we  have  the  settlement  of  a  hardy, 
industrious,  sturdy,  and  liberty-loving  population,  in  the  midst  of  a 
brave,  reveling,  quick-witted,  emotional,  and  law-hating  race.  The 
two  begin  to  act  and  react,  the  one  upon  the  other.  Henry  the 
Eighth's  contest  with  the  religion  of  his  realm  brings  a  new  element  to 
the  compound.  More  Scots  come  over,  to  escape  wars  and  persecution 
at  home.  Henry  VIII.  sets  up  religious  persecution,  and  begins  the 
long-continued  and  oft-repeated  attempt  to  transfer  the  possession  of 
Irish  lauds  to  the  hands  of  Englishmen.  When  Elizabeth  had  come 
to  the  throne  of  England,  she  continued  the  work  begun  by  her  father. 
By  conquest  or  by  contract,  she  gave  to  her  favorites,  Raleigh  and 
Essex,  and  other  English  adventurers,  vast  estates  in  Ireland,  to  be 
peopled  by  English. 

Following  upon  her  imperfect  work,  came  the  more  extensive  plan 
of  Lord  Bacon,  under  James  the  First,  by  which  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  Irish  lands  were  parceled  out  by  allotments  to  "  English 
and  Scots,  requiring  the  Irish  to  remove  from  the  precincts  allotted  to 
them." 

During  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  no  scruples  were  felt  by  the  king 
in  awarding  to  adventurers  who  had  been  of  service  to  him  estates  in 
Ireland  as  a  reward,  nor  did  the  adventurers  hesitate  as  to  the  morality 
of  the  methods  used  to  possess  themselves  of  their  estates.  But  the 
great  settlement  of  Ireland  by  English  and  Scots  came  about  under 
the  government  of  Cromwell.  I  have  taken  from  first  hands.* 

"  From  the  days  of  the  first  invasion,  the  king  and  council  of 
England  intended  to  make  English  landed  proprietors  in  Ireland  the 
rulers  of  Ireland,  as  William  the  Conqueror  had  made  the  French  of 
Noraiandy  landlords  and  rulers  of  the  English.  Though  the  govern 
ment  of  England  were  interrupted  in  this  course  by  the  wars  of  Ed 
ward  I.  for  the  subjection  of  the  Scotch,  by  the  wars  of  Edward  III. 

*  "  Cromwellian  Settlement  of  Ireland,"  by  Prendergast — a  book  in  the 
hands  of  Colonel  Thomas  Boyers,  of  Gallatin — the  shortest  epitome  that  can  be 
made  intelligible  of  the  motives  and  methods  of  these  settlements. 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  137 

and  his  successors  for  the  crown  of  France,  and  finally  by  the  civil 
wars  of  England,  called  the  'Wars  of  the  Roses,'  the  design  was 
never  abandoned.  And  when  Henry  VIII.,  disencumbered  of  any 
foreign  war  or  domestic  treason,  had  time  to  destroy  the  house  of  Kil- 
dare,  he  projected  the  clearing  of  Ireland  to  the  Shannon  and  colon 
izing  it  with  English.  But  the  new  conquest  of  Ireland  only  really 
began  in  the  reigns  of  his  three  children,  Edward  VI.,  Queen  Mary, 
and  Queen  Elizabeth,  when  the  conquest  of  the  lauds  of  the  Irish  for 
the  purpose  of  new  colonizing  or  planting  them  with  English  was  re 
sumed,  after  an  interval  of  more  than  three  hundred  years.  During 
this  interval,  the  English  Pale,  or  that  part  of  Ireland  subject  to  the 
regular  jurisdiction  of  the  king  of  England  and  his  laws,  had  been 
gradually  contracting — partly  by  the  English  of  Ireland  throwing  off 
the  feudal  system,  and  partly  by  re-conquests  effected  by  the  Irish, 
until  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  the  Pale  was  nearly  limited  by  the 
line  of  the  Liffey  and  the  Boyne.  Beyond  the  Pale  the  English  and 
the  Irish  dwelt  intermixed.  And  in  all  the  plans  for  restoring  the 
regular  administration  of  the  king's  laws  in  Ireland  it  was  proposed 
that  these  English  should  be  brought  back  to  their  ancient  military 
discipline,  and  should  conquer  from  the  Irish  the  lands  in  their  posses 
sion,  in  order  that  they  might  be  given  to  English  under  grants  on 
feudal  conditions  by  the  king. 

"  But  the  English  of  Ireland  clearly  foresaw  that  the  effect  of  the 
complete  conquest  of  the  Irish  would  be  to  give  the  government  of 
Ireland  to  the  English  of  England.  Their  armed  retainers,  called 
Gallowglasses  and  Kerne,  would  be  put  down,  as  there  would  no  longer 
remain  the  pretense  of  defending  the  land  from  the  king's  Irish  ene 
mies.  With  the  regular  administration  of  English  law  would  come 
back  wardships,  marriages,  reliefs,  escheats,  and  forfeitures,  which 
they  were  only  too  happy  to  have  thrown  off  in  the  days  of  Edward 
II.;  and  the  final  result  would  be  to  bring  over  new  colonists  from 
England  who  would  be  rivals  to  supplant  them  in  the  favor  of  the 
government  and  in  all  the  offices  of  the  state.  The  English  of  Ire 
land,  consequently,  were  secretly  indisposed  to  effect  the  reconquest, 
and  it  was  not  until  they  were  subdued  that  the  second  conquest  began. 

"  The  first  blow  to  the  English  of  Irish  birth  was  the  limiting  the 
power  of  the  Parliament.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  Sir  Edward 
Poynings  forced  from  the  Irish  Parliament  a  statute  whereby  the  Privy 
Council  of  England  were  made  virtually  a  part  of  the  Parliament  of 
Ireland ;  from  thenceforth  it  could  originate  no  statutes,  and  could 
pass  only  such  as  had  been  first  approved  by  the  Privy  Council  of 
England.  The  Parliament  had,  in  fact,  long  become  devoted  to  the 


138  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

earls  of  Kildare,  who  had  thereby  become  too  powerful  for  the  kings 
of  Englaud.  The  next  and  final  blow  to  the  power  of  the  English, 
of  Ireland  was  the  fall  of  the  House  of  Kildare,  when  Silken  Thomas, 
Earl  of  Kildare,  and  his  five  uncles,  were  executed  at  Tyburn  for 
treason,  at  the  end  of  Henry  VIII. 's  reign.  The  head  of  the  ancient 
English  of  Ireland  had  now  fallen;  their  parliament  had  been  already 
deprived  of  its  power;  the  main  obstacles  to  the  design  of  England 
were  removed,  and  in  the  following  reigns  the  reconquest  of  Ireland 
by  plantation  began. 

"At  first  it  was  the  native  Irish  that  were  stripped,  as  the 
O'Moores,  the  O'Connors,  and  the  O'Neils.  The  earl  of  Desmond's 
great  territories,  extending  over  Limerick  and  Kerry,  Cork  and  Water- 
ford,  were  next  confiscated  and  planted.  Finally,  in  James  I.'s 
reign,  the  native  Irish,  not  only  of  Ulster,  but  of  Leitrim  and  where- 
ever  else  they  continued  possessed  of  the  original  territories,  were  dis 
possessed  of  portions  of  their  lands,  varying  from  one-third  to  three- 
fourths,  to  form  plantations  of  new  English.  During  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  old  English  of  Ireland,  though  they  agreed  in 
point  of  religion  with  the  native  Irish,  always  adhered  to  the  English 
in  any  rebellion  of  the  Irish,  as  in  a  national  quarrel.  In  James  I.'s 
reign,  as  all  the  planters  were  of  the  new  religion,  the  old  English 
found  themselves  supplanted  by  them  in  all  the  offices  of  the  state, 
as  the  Irish  found  themselves  supplanted  by  them  in  their  native 
homes. 

"It  is  needless  here  to  recapitulate  the  long  continued  injuries  and 
insults  by  which  the  ancient  English  of  Ireland  were  forced  into  the 
same  ranks  with  the  Irish  in  defense  of  the  king's  cause  in  1641. 
Chief  among  them  were  the  attempts  to  seize  their  estates  under  the 
plea  of  defective  title,  in  order  to  plant  them  with  new  English.  It 
was  thus  Lord  Stafford  got  Connaught  and  parts  of  Tipperary  and 
Limerick  into  his  power,  with  the  intention  of  forming  a  new  planta 
tion  at  the  expense  of  the  DeBurgos  and  other  old  English.  One 
of  the  old  English  in  1644  thus  graphically  expresses  their  feelings : 
'  Was  it  not  the  usual  taunt  of  the  late  Lord  Stafford  and  all  his 
fawning  sycophants,  in  their  private  conversations  with  those  of  the 
Pale,  that  they  were  the  most  refractory  men  of  the  whole  kingdom, 
and  that  it  was  more  necessary  (that  is,  for  their  own  crooked  ends) 
that  they  should  be  planted  and  supplanted  than  any  others,'  and 
that  '  where  plantations  might  not  reach,  defective  titles  should  ex 
tend.'  He  had  known  many  an  officer  and  gentleman,  he  adds,  wha 
had  left  a  hand  at  Kinsale  in  fighting  in  defense  of  the  Crown  of 
England,  when  the  Spaniards  and  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  were  defeated 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  139 

by  Lord  Mountjoy,  to  be  afterward  deprived  of  his  pension  for  hav 
ing  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  and  allegiance  in  the 
Protestant  form,  though,  as  one  of  them  answered,  on  being  ques 
tioned  before  the  state  for  matter  of  recusancy  (as  they  termed  it),  '  it 
was  not  asked  of  me  the  day  of  Kinsale  what  religion  I  was  of.' 

"The  Scotch  and  English,  however,  having  rebelled  against  the 
king  in  1639  (for  the  march  of  the  Scottish  rebels  to  the  border  in 
that  year  was  on  the  invitation  of  the  leaders  of  the  popular  party  in 
England,  though  they  themselves  did  not  openly  take  the  field  till 
1642),  the  Irish  rose  in  his  favor.  They  were  finally  subdued,  in 
1652,  by  Cromwell  and  the  arms  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  then 
took  place  a  scene  not  witnessed  in  Europe  since  the  conquest  of 
Spain  by  the  Vandals.  Indeed,  it  is  injustice  to  the  Vandals  to  equal 
them  with  the  English  of  1652,  for  the  Vandals  came  as  strangers 
and  conquerors  in  an  age  of  force  and  barbarism,  nor  did  they  ban 
ish  the  people,  though  they  seized  and  divided  their  lands  by  lot ; 
but  the  English  in  1652  were  of  the  same  nation  as  half  of  the  chief 
families  in  Ireland,  and  had  at  that  time  the  island  under  their  sway 
for  five  hundred  years. 

"The  captains  and  men  of  war  of  the  Irish,  amounting  to  40,000 
and  upward,  were  banished  into  Spain,  where  they  took  service  under 
that  king;  others  of  them,  with  a  crowd  of  orphan  boys  and  girls, 
were  transported  to  serve  the  English  planters  in  the  West  Indies ; 
and  the  remnant  of  the  nation,  not  banished  or  transported,  were  to 
be  transplanted  into  Connaught,  while  the  conquering  army  divided 
the  ancient  inheritances  of  the  Irish  amongst  them  by  the  lot." 

This  writer,  in  speaking  of  old  English,  includes  under  that  term 
Scotch  as  well. 

Space  does  not  allow  more  detail.  Our  object  has  been  to  show 
you  the  original  training  which  made  of  the  Scotch-Irish  the  race  we 
find  then  afterward. 

ELEMENTS  WHICH  MAKE  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  COMPOUND. 

The  Scotch-Irish  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  settlement  were  often 
intermarried.  We  quote  a  paper  which  throws  light  on  this  point, 
and  on  much  more  :* 

"The  humble  petition  of  the  officers  within  the  precincts  of  Dub 
lin,  Catherlough,  Wexford,  and  Kilkenny,  in  the  behalf  of  themselves, 
their  souldiers,  and  other  faithful  English  Protestants,  to  the  lord  deputy 
and  council  of  Ireland." 

They  pray  that  the  original  order  of  the  council  of  state  in  Eng- 

*  (Jromwelliun  Settlement  of  Ireland. 


140  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

land,  confirmed  by  Parliament,  September  27,  1653,  requiring  the  re 
moval  of  all  the  Irish  nation  into  Counaught,  except  boys  of  fourteen 
and  girls  of  twelve,  might  be  enforced:  "For  we  humbly  conceive 
(say  they),  that  the  proclamation  for  transplanting  only  the  proprietors, 
and  such  as  have  bin  in  arms,  will  neither  answer  the  end  of  safety, 
nor  what  else  is  aimed  at  thereby.  For  the  first  purpose  of  the  trans 
plantation  is  to  prevent  those  of  natural  principles  (i.  e.,  of  natural  affec 
tions),  becoming  one  with  these  Irish,  as  well  in  affinity  as  idolatry,  as 
many  thousands  did,  who  came  over  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  many 
of  which  have  had  a  deep  hand  in  all  the  late  murthers  and  massacres. 
And  shall  we  join  in  affinity  (they  ask)  with  the  people  of  these  abom 
inations  ? 

"  Would  not  the  Lord  be  angry  with  us  till  he  consumes  us,  having 
said,  '  The  land  which  ye  go  to  possess  is  an  unclean  land,  because  of 
the  filthiness  of  the  people  that  dwell  therein.  Ye  shall  not,  there 
fore,  give  your  sons  to  their  daughters,  nor  take  their  daughters  to 
your  sons,'  as  it  is  in  Ezra,  ix,  11,  12,  14.  'Nay  ye  shall  surely  root 
them  out  before  you,  lest  they  cause  you  to  forsake  the  Lord,  your 
God.'  Deut,  vii,  2,  3,  4,  16,  18." 

We  have  mention,  in  the  documents  giving  details  of  the  trans 
plantation,  of  the  names  of  many  high  born  persons  who  had  thus  in 
termarried.  Even  Cromwell's  old  soldiers,  full  of  pious  cant  and  great 
fear  of  the  abominations  of  idolatry  in  the  lands  where  thousands  of 
Irishmen  had  been  slaughtered,  and  tens  of  thousands  sent  out  of  the 
land  into  Spain  and  the  West  Indies,  found  the  charms  of  the  Irish 
maidens,  full  of  vigorous  life,  chastity,  and  redolent  with  healthful 
beauty,  more  than  they  could  resist,  and  so  made  them  wives  of  the 
daughters  of  the  land. 

We  have  thus  the  indomitable,  prudent,  calculating,  metaphysi 
cal,  God-fearing,  tyrant-hating  Scotch,  brought  by  marriage  into 
blood  relationship  with  the  brave,  reckless,  emotional,  intuitive,  God- 
loving,  liberty-adoring  Irish. 

We  shall  see  the  results  when  we  find  these  people  the  cautious  build 
ers  of  free  constitutional  government,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  pioneers 
of  American  civilization. 

ENVIRONMENT. 

The  Scotch  settlers  in  Ireland,  for  the  government  of  which  the 
English  and  Irish  were  often  at  war,  found  themselves  so  greatly  in 
the  minority  that  they  could  only  stand  and  see  their  own  civil  and  re 
ligions  rights  the  foot-balls  of  a  government  where  they  had  no  repre 
sentation.  Their  religious  and  civil  rights  subject  to  the  whims  of 
kings,  courtiers,  lord  lieutenants,  bishops,  either  Romish  or  Protestant. 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   TENNESSEE.  141 

In  one  reign  rewarded  for  services  by  wrongful  gifts  of  Irish  estates, 
in  a  subsequent,  deprived  of  their  possessions  and  their  services  for 
gotten  that  more  hungry  adventurers,  or  the  exchequer  of  needy  raon- 
archs  might  be  replenished.  They  had  for  three  hundred  years  been 
compelled  to  know  by  actual  daily  experience  the  evils  of  provincial  gov 
ernment  by  kingly  favorites,  the  arrogance,  hate,  and  cruelty  of  episco 
pal  interference  and  control.  Added  to  these  they  felt  the  narrow  hatred 
and  hypocritical  cruelty  of  the  Puritan  soldiers  who  prayed  to  God  for 
strength  to  visit  untold  horrors  on  the  men,  women  and  children  whom 
they  were  robbing  in  their  acts  of  transportation.  Besides  these  ever 
recurring  religious  and  political  perplexities,  they  saw  their  industries 
at  the  mercy  of  the  orders  of  the  throne  or  the  English  parliament. 
In  other  words,  government  without  representation  had  burnt  its  evils 
into  their  very  souls,  until  in  despair  of  any  desirable  future  to  be 
found  in  Ireland,  and  in  resolute  determination  to  win  a  future  on  the 
high  plane  of  their  own  value  of  manhood  and  liberty,  they  deliber 
ately  chose  to  hazard  the  wilds  of  America.  Their  reasons  for  seek 
ing  America  had  little  in  common  with  the  adventurers  who  hud  been 
induced  by  large  promises  to  emigrate  from  England.  They  were  in 
nowise  allied  to  the  people  transplanted  by  force  from  England. 
They  were  the  very  people  the  English  most  desired  to  remain  in  Ire- 
laud.  They  had  more  in  common  with  the  Puritans  than  with  their 
other  persecutors,  but  even  from  these  had  marked  distinctions.  .  The 
strong  points  and  virtues  of  the  two  were  much  the  same.  A  sentence 
may  show  the  line  of  distinction,  they  held  in  more  contempt  a  re 
stricted  hospitality  than  they  did  May-poles,  their  laugh  was  as  hearty, 
musical,  and  manly  as  the  groan  of  the  Puritans  was  affected,  grating 
and  inhuman.  With  this  necessary  allusion  to  the  blood  and  environ 
ment  which  gave  form,  vigor  and  fitness  to  this  race,  we  come  to  the 
period  of  their  emigration  to  and  settlement  in  America. 

Before  passing  to  the  settlement  of  America,  there  are  a  few 
bright  factors  entering  into  the  environment  of  our  forefathers  in  Ire 
land  that  we  pause  on  a  moment  with  pleasure.  Bishop  Echliu, 
who  was  himself  a  native  of  Scotland  in  the  ordination  of  Robert 
Blair,  who  came  as  a  missionary  from  the  Presbyterian  church  of 
Scotland  to  Ireland,  attained  a  position  of  lofty  Christian  manhood 
little  known  to  bishops  of  any  era.  Aided  by  the  influence  of  Scotch 
Presbyterian  learning  and  love  of  liberty,  the  University  of  Dublin 
was  founded  on  very  liberal  principles.  To  Dr.  James,  afterward 
Archbishop  Usher,  a  professor  in  this  university,  was  assigned  the 
task  of  drawing  up  a  confession  of  faith  for  the  Irish  church.  To 
him  we  are  largely  indebted  for  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  compre- 


1-42  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

hensive  confessions  of  faith  ever  drawn  up  in  Christendom.  After 
ward,  as  archbishop,  we  find  this  great  man  standing  firmly  for  lib 
erty  of  conscience  and  the  protection  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
preachers,  until  overruled  by  orders  from  England.  Again  to  Oliver 
Cromwell  we  turn  for  the  exhibition  of  tolerance  far  in  advance  of 
the  Puritan  parliament. 

These  acts  of  toleration  and  protection  were  not  without  their 
due  influence  on  the  minds  of  our  ancestors.  They  saw  then  what  the 
world  is  slow  to  learn,  that  the  highest  tolerance  and  the  broadest  freedom 
belong  to  the  greatest  men;  not  to  one  form  of  government;  not  to  one 
form  of  doctrine.  The  men  grand  enough  to  outgrow  their  environ 
ment,  and  defend  freedom  of  thought  for  those  who  differ  from  them, 
have  as  yet  been  too  few  to  pass  by  their  names  or  forget  their  in 
fluence,  in  even  the  most  meager  historical  sketch  of  the  age  to  which 
they  belong.  These  were  grand  beacon-lights,  which  shone  on  the 
struggling  days  of  our  forefathers. 

Usher  towered  above  the  Church  of  England.  Cromwell  breached 
the  iron  walls  of  Puritanism.  All  honor  to  men  who  thus  grow  to 
proportions  which  may  gladden  our  hope  and  confidence  in  the  possi 
bilities  of  the  race. 

EMIGRATION. 

"  The  Protestant  settlers  in  Ireland  at  the  beginning  of  the  sev 
enteenth  century  were  of  the  same  metal  with  those  who  afterward 
sailed  in  the  Mayflower — Presbyterians,  Puritans,  Independents — in 
search  of  a  wider  breathing-space  than  was  allowed  them  at  home. 
By  an  unhappy  perversity  they  had  fallen  under  the  same  stigma,  and 
were  exposed  to  the  same  inconveniences.  The  bishops  had  chafed 
them  with  persecutions.  .  .  .  The  heroism  with  which  the  Scots 
held  the  northern  province  against  the  Kilkenny  parliament  and 
Owen  Roe  O'Neil,  was  an  insufficient  offset  against  the  sin  of  non 
conformity.  .  .  .  This  was  a  stain  for  which  no  excellence  could 
atone.  The  persecutions  were  renewed,  but  did  not  cool  Presby 
terian  loyalty.  When  the  native  race  made  their  last  effort,  under 
James  II.,  to  recover  their  lands,  the  Calvinists  of  Derry  won  im 
mortal  honor  for  themselves,  and  flung  over  the  wretched  annals  of 
their  adopted  country  a  solitary  gleam  of  true  glory.  Even  this 
passed  for  nothing.  They  were  still  dissenters;  still  unconscious 
that  they  owed  obedience  to  the  hybrid  successors  of  St.  Patrick, 
the  prelates  of  the  Establishment;  and  no  sooner  was  peace  re 
established  than  spleen  and  bigotry  were  again  at  their  old  work. 
Vexed  with  suits  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  forbidden  to  educate 
their  children  in  their  own  faith,  treated  as  dangerous  to  a  state 


8COTCH-IKISU    IN    TENNESSEE.  143 

which  but  for  them  would  have  had  no  existence,  and  deprived  of 
their  civil  rights,  the  most  earnest  of  them  at  length  abandoned  the 
unthankful  service.  If  they  intended  to  live  as  free  men,  speaking 
no  lies,  and  professing  openly  the  creed  of  the  Reformation,  they  must 
seek  a  country  where  the  long  arm  of  prelacy  was  still  too  short  to 
reach  them.  During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Down, 
Antrim,  Tyrone,  Armagh,  and  Derry,  were  emptied  of  Protestant  in 
habitants,  who  were  of  more  value  to  Ireland  than  California  gold 
mines."  "  In  two  years,"  says  Froude,  "  which  followed  the  Antrim 
evictions,  thirty  thousand  Protestants  left  Ulster  for  a  land  where 
there  was  no  legal  robbery,  and  where  those  who  sowed  the  seed  could 
reap  the  harvest.  .  .  .  The  south  and  west  were  caught  by  the 
same  movement,  and  ships  could  not  be  found  to  carry  the  crowds 
who  were  eager  to  go." 

A  minister  of  Ulster,  writing  to  a  friend  in  Scotland,  in  1718, 
laments  the  desolation  occasioned  in  that  region  "by  the  removal  of 
several  of  our  brethren  to  the  American  plantations.  Not  less  than 
six  ministers  have  demitted  their  congregations,  and  great  numbers  of 
the  people  go  with  them."  Ten  years  later,  Archbishop  Boulter  wrote 
to  the  English  Secretary  of  State  respecting  the  extensive  emigration 
to  America:  "The  humor  has  spread  like  a  contagious  distemper;  and 
the  worst  is,  that  it  affects  only  Protestants,  and  reigns  chiefly  in  the 
North."  About  the  same  time,  we  find  James  Logan,  the  President 
of  the  Proprietary  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  identified  him 
self  with  the  Quakers,  and  was  prejudiced  against  the  emigrants  from 
Ireland,  expressing  "the  common  fear  that,  if  they  (the  Scotch-Irish) 
continue  to  come,  they  will  make  themselves  proprietors  of  the  prov 
ince."  He  further,  in  1729,  expresses  "himself  glad  to  find  that  the 
Parliament  is  about  to  take  measures  to  prevent  their  too  free  emigra 
tion  to  this  country.  It  looks  as  if  Ireland  is  to  send  all  her  inhabitants 
hither ;  for  last  week  not  less  than  six  ships  arrived,  and  every  day  two  or 
three  arrive  also."  Dr.  Baird,  in  his  History  of  Religion  in  America, 
states  that,  "  from  1729  to  1750,  about  12,000  annually  came  from 
Ulster  to  America." 

These  emigrants  lauded  at  the  ports  of  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and 
Charleston.  Comparatively  few  entered  the  country  by  way  of  New 
England.  Those  that  did  so,  settled  mainly  in  New  Hampshire, 
while  others  found  their  way  to  Pennsylvania,  and  helped  swell  the 
tide  which  was  pouring  into  this  state  by  way  of  Philadelphia.  These 
Irish  settlers  occupied  the  eastern  and  middle  counties,  bordering  on 
the  wilderness  still  occupied  by  the  Indians.  Such  as  landed  at 
Charleston,  located  themselves  on  the  fertile  lands  of  North  an 


144  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

South  Carolina  ami  Georgia.  The  settlers  in  Pennsylvania  afterward 
turned  southward  through  the  valley  of  Virginia,  till,  "  meeting  those 
extending  northward  from  the  Carolinas,  the  emigration  passed  west 
ward  to  the  country  then  called  '  beyond  the  mountains,'  now  known 
as  Kentucky  and  Tennessee."  At  a  later  period,  Western  Pennsyl 
vania  was  occupied  by  the  descendants  of  the  settlers  in  the  middle 
counties  of  the  state,  with  Pittsburg  as  a  center.  From  these  points 
of  radiation,  the  Scotch-Irish  have  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  coun= 
try,  and,  being  an  intelligent,  resolute,  and  energetic  people,  have  left 
their  name  and  mark  in  every  state  of  the  Union. 

Their  youth,  at  this  early  period,  "were  generally  educated  at 
home,  and  under  parental  instruction,  and  trained  to  obedience  and 
subordination,  as  the  unbending  law  of  the  family.  The  schools  es 
tablished  by  Presbyterian  ministers,  confirmed  and  extended  the  home 
education.  The  impress  of  such  instrumentalities  was  not  only  mani 
fested  in  the  families  of  church  members,  but,  by  association  and  in 
fluence,  extended  beyond  the  pale  of  organized  congregations,  and 
their  tendency  was  to  reform  and  elevate  public  sentiment  and  morals* 
as  well  as  the  habits  and  manners  of  the  people." 

The  mass  of  these  emigrants  were  men  of  intelligence,  resolu 
tion,  energy,  religious  and  moral  character,  having  means  that  enabled 
them  to  supply  themselves  with  suitable  selections  of  land,  on  which 
they  made  permanent  homes  for  their  families,  and  from  which  they 
derived  an  ample  support.  By  their  own  enterprise  and  industry  they 
hewed  out  for  themselves  valuable  farms  from  the  primeval  forest; 
and  the  toils,  sacrifices,  and  perils,  incident  to  their  life  in  the  New 
World,  formed,  in  both  men  and  women,  the  characters  which  were 
requisite  to  endure  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  their  frontier  situa 
tion.  These  traits  of  character  were  manifest  also  in  their  descend 
ants.  Brought  up  under  such  education  and  training,  they  have  since 
been  the  "  pioneers  and  founders  of  settlements  in  the  North-western 
Territory,  and  the  states  formed  out  of  it,  and  have  been  amongst  the 
most  prominent,  useful,  and  distinguished  citizens  of  the  republic." 
"They  were  a  God-fearing,  liberty-loving,  tyrant-hating,  Sabbath 
keeping,  covenant-adhering  race ;  trained  by  trials,  made  resolute  by 
oppression,  governed  by  conscience,  and  destined  to  achieve  a  mission 
and  place  in  the  history  of  the  church  and  the  race." 

Of  the  early  ministers,  a  very  large  proportion  were  from  the 
Irish  church.  Francis  Makemie  (1682)  was  a  member  of  Lagan 
Presbytery.  George  McNish  (1705)  was  from  Ulster.  John  Henry 
(1709)  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin  John  Mackey 
was  from  Ireland.  Samuel  Young,  of  New  Castle  Presbytery,  be- 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  145 

longed  originally  to  the  Presbytery  of  Armagh.  Robert  Cross,  Alex 
ander  Hutcheson,  Thomas  Craighead,  Joseph  Houston,  Adam  Boyd, 
John  Wilson,  and  many  other  useful  and  honored  ministers,  were  ac 
cessions  to  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country 
previous  to  1730.  And  from  this  period,  the  number  who  came  was 
continually  on  the  increase.  Nor  would  it  be  difficult  to  prove  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  sincere  inquirers  after  truth,  that  we  are  indebted  to 
these  same  men  "  for  the  germs  of  our  civil  liberties  and  institutions, 
as  really  as  for  our  own  noble  system  of  faith  and  order."  As  might 
be  expected  from  their  antecedents  and  providential  training,  they 
were  ardent  lovers,  and  strong  defenders  of  civil  liberty.  They  hated 
tyranny  with  almost  "perfect  hatred."  They  had  received  a  discipline 
that  could  never  be  lost,  and  of  all  the  memories  of  childhood,  none 
could  remain  more  fresh  and  impressive  than  those  received  from  the 
lips  of  parents  numbered  among  the  heroic  champions  of  freedom  at 
Derry  and  Euuiskillen.  And  the  earliest  Scotch-Irish  emigrants  to 
America  were  men  who  had  been  participants,  or  children  of  those 
who  were  participants,  in  the  terrible  drama  which  closed  with  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne.  Accordingly  we  find  that  these  men  were 
among  the  earliest  champions  of  freedom,  and  the  most  earnest  and 
persistent  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  as  against  the  unjust 
actions  of  the  British  government.  No  less  an  authority  than  the  his 
torian  Bancroft,  states  that,  "the  first  public  voice  in  America  for 
dissolving  all  connection  with  Great  Britain  came  not  from  the  Puri 
tans  of  New  England,  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  nor  the  planters  of 
Virginia,  but  from  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians."  Abbe  Raynal,  in  his 
history  contemporary  with  our  Revolutionary  struggle,  though  on  the 
side  of  American  independence,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 
provocations  by  the  British  government  to  the  American  colonies  were 
so  much  less  than  those  to  which  the  age  was  every-where  accustomed 
that  it  was  a  matter  of  deep  surprise  how  the  Americans  could  have 
been  brought  to  so  heroic  resistance  on  grounds  so  slight.  He  traces 
the  fact  that  in  the  early  years  of  the  struggle  the  mass  of  our  people 
were  little  interested  in  the  result.  The  masses  of  Americans  who 
had  known  nothing  for  generations  of  provincial  government  without 
representation  were  in  no  condition  M  see  the  dangers  which 
threatened  them. 

The  Scotch-Irish  who  landed  in  Boston  and  New  York  found 

colonists  too  readily  submissive  to  foreign  dictation,  and  preferred  to 

seek  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  where  the  proprietary  governors  and 

the  people  governed  were  in  immediate  contact.     There  they  pressed 

10 


146  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

to  the  frontier,  where  they  could  organize  local  governments  of  their 
own  choosing.  Those  who  reached  Virginia  passed  again  to  the 
frontier;  they  loved  neither  the  aristocratic  government  nor  the  epis 
copal  dictation  of  this  colony.  Those  landing  in  the  south  passed 
north  and  west  in  search  of  similar  freedom,  so  soon  as  they  had  met 
in  sufficient  proportions  to  realize  their  own  power.  They  were  led  to 
find  homes  where  they  could  exercise  their  attachment  to  the  doctrine 
affirmed  by  one  of  their  ministers,  speaking  for  all,  as  early  as  1650, 
when  required  by  the  Long  Parliament  to  subscribe  to  the  oath  against 
a  goverment  of  king,  lords,  and  commons ;  in  refusing,  he  said  : 

"  Men  are  called  to  the  magistracy  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people, 
whom  they  govern  ;  and  for  men  to  assume  unto  themselves  power,  is 
mere  tyranny  and  unjust  usurpation."  This  he  said  on  account  of  the 
self-constituted"  authority  of  this  Parliament.  This  doctrine,  new  to 
civil  government,  which  they  had  derived  from  religious  convictions, 
traditions,  and  struggles,  was  first  to  receive  the  baptism  of  blood, 
May  10,  1771,  at 

ALAMANCE   CREEK. 

Having  mentioned  the  battle  of  Alamance,  and  finding  that  in 
some  of  our  histories  the  character  and  purposes  of  the  Regulators 
engaged  in  this  conflict  have  been  greatly  misunderstood,  I  offer  the 
following  extract  from  the  life  of  David  Caldwell,  D.D.,  by  Rev.  E. 
W.  Caruthers,  of  North  Carolina. 

"A  people  who  have  been  religiously  educated,  as  a  majority  of  the 
Regulators  had  been,  and  who  had  been  taught  to  regard  the  Bible  as 
a  revelation  from  heaven,  are  not  apt  to  rise  at  once  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  established  government,  or  bid  defiance  to  the  regularly 
constituted  authorities  of  the  land.  This  is  the  work  of  time  and  re 
flection.  There  must  be  consultation  and  inquiry  into  facts  for  the 
purpose  of  satisfying  their  own  consciences,  and  of  justifying  them 
selves  before  the  world.  There  will  be  some  regard  to  the  voice  of 
reason :  some  efforts  will  be  made  to  obtain  a  redress  of  grievances 
without  the  hazard  and  sufferings  attending  a  conflict  with  '  the  powers 
that  be.'  And  then  they  must  have  mutual  encouragement  and 
mutual  pledges  of  fidelity  and  support.  This  is  just  what  we  find  in  the 
men  whose  principles  and  conduct  are  now  under  consideration,  and 
it  does  not  appear  that  hitherto  they  had  as  a  body  made  auy  direct  re 
sistance  to  the  operations  of  government.  Fanning  and  others,  who 
had  in  the  same  way  become  obnoxious  to  the  people,  were  made  the 
subjects  of  ridicule  or  of  merriment  by  the  wits  and  wags  of  the  day, 
and,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  caricatures  and  pasquinades  abounded. 
The  meeting  at  Haddock's  mills,  as  we  have  seen,  resolved  that  they 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   TENNESSEE.  147 

would  pay  no  more  illegal  taxes,  unless  they  were  forced ;  that  they 
would  pay  no  more  exorbitant  fees  to  officers,  except  by  compulsion, 
and  that  they  would  bear  an  open  testimony  against  it;  that  they 
would  hold  frequent  meetings  for  conference,  which  they  would  re 
quest  their  representatives  to  attend  for  the  purpose  of  giving  them 
information  respecting  what  was  done  in  the  legislature,  and  of  con 
sulting  together  about  the  measures  that  ought  to  be  adopted  for  the 
common  welfare ;  that  they  would  select  more  suitable  men  for  the 
various  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people;  that  they  would  petition  the 
assembly,  governor,  council,  king  and  parliament,  for  redress  of  their 
grievances ;  that  they  would  contribute  to  collections  for  defraying 
whatever  expenses  might  be  necessary  in  this  undertaking;  that  when 
ever  a  difference  of  opinion  might  arise  they  would  submit  to  the  ma 
jority  ;  and  as  a  pledge  of  their  fidelity  in  the  performance  of  these 
things  they  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  or  affirmation."  In  all  this 
we  see  nothing  but  the  principles  and  spirit  which  covered  the  patriots 
of  '76  with  immortal  honor;  and  only  because  they  were  better  sus 
tained,  had  more  ample  resources,  and  were  more  successful. 

This  battle  was  followed  by  the  call  of  Colonel  Thomas  Polk,  on 
the  19th  day  of  May,  1775,  for  the  convention,  which  gave  an  "  unan 
imous  aye"  to  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence,  a 
declaration  remarkable  for  its  heroism,  and  at  the  same  time  its  pro 
vision  for  continued  government;  there  was  no  moment  of  anarchy  be 
tween  their  Declaration  of  Independence  from  the  British  crown,  and 
the  erection  of  a  government  of  their  own  ordination. 

THOMAS  POLK. 

I  have  in  my  possession  ample  evidence  of  the  Scotch-Irish  blood 
of  the  Polks.  The  evidence  of  genealogy,  and  the  details  of  service 
rendered  by  this  distinguished  family  would  occupy  more  space  in  this 
address  than  your  time  allows. 

I  shall,  therefore,  file  these  papers  with  the  custodian  of  the  his 
torical  papers  of  the  society,  and  content  myself  with  the  mention  of 
only  a  few  prominent  events  in  the  lives  of  a  few  of  the  most  distin 
guished  members  of  the  family.  While  dealing  with  Colonel  Thomas 
Polk,  we  will  complete  what  we  have  to  say  of  his  direct  line,  adding 
a  few  incidents  not  to  be  found  in  the  regular  histories.  As  has  already 
been  said,  Thomas  Polk,  as  colonel  of  the  militia  of  the  district,  called 
the  convention  which  passed  unanimously  the  Mecklenburg  Declara 
tion  of  Independence.  The  document,  which  had  been  written  before 
the  meeting  by  his  son-in-law,  Ephraim  Brevard,  was  read  to  the  con 
vention,  submitted  to  a  committee  for  revision,  as  revised,  was  re-read, 


148  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

unanimously  adopted,  and  read  by  order  of  convention,  at  the  court 
house  door  to  the  assembled  people  by  Colonel  Polk.  This  had  been 
immortality  enough  for  one  man  or  one  family,  but  Colonel  Polk  was 
later  a  member  of  the  colonial  congress,  and  brigadier-general,  was  at 
the  battle  of  Germantown,  and  in  the  colonial  congress  of  North  Car 
olina,  which  was  the  first  to  instruct  for  independence,  April,  1776. 

John  Simpson,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  of  May  20,  in  giving  his  testimony  (before  committee  of 
North  Carolina  legislature),  relates  this  anecdote:  "An  aged  man 
near  me,  on  being  asked  if  he  knew  any  thing  of  this  affair  (Declara 
tion  of  20th),  replied:  '  Och,  aye;  Tarn  Polk  declared  independence 
lang  before  any  body  else.'" 

COLONEL  WILLIAM  POLK,* 

Son  of  General  Thomas  Polk  and  Susan  (nee  Spratt),  was  born,  1759. 
He  left  Queens  College,  Charlotte,  when  sixteen  years  of  age  (1775), 
and  entered  the  army  as  lieutenant  in  Colonel  Thompson's  (Old  Danger) 
regiment.  He  was  detailed  by  Colonel  Thompson  with  thirty  men 
to  watch  the  movements  of  tories  in  South  Carolina.  He  was  led  into 
an  ambuscade  by  his  guide  (one  Sol.  Deason)  and  was  badly  wounded 
in  the  shoulder,  from  which  he  did  not  recover  in  a  year.  "  This  was 
the  first  blood  shed  south  of  Lexington,"  so  says  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  in  a  sketch  written  in  1844,  when  James  K.  Polk  was  a  can 
didate  for  the  presidency,  also  an  autobiography  written  by  Colonel 
Polk,  for  Judge  Murphy,  of  North  Carolina. 

General  Jackson  was  a  small  boy  at  school  with  Colonel  Polk,  at 
Charlotte,  North  Carolina.  They  were  life-long  friends,  and  I  think 
that  Jackson,  although  not  of  military  age,  was  a  short  time  in 
service  with  Colonel  Polk. 

Colonel   William  Folk's  Memoir. 

He  was  with  General  Davis  as  volunteer  captain  at  Beaver  Creek 
(Wheeler,  190  page). 

At  Cowans  Ford,  July  20,  1780,  by  the  side  of  General  David 
son  when  he  fell  (Wheeler,  235). 

With  General  Nash  at  Germantown,  when  he  (Polk)  was  wounded 
in  the  cheek. 

Captain  in  charge  when  liberty  bell  was  removed  from  Phila 
delphia. 


*  MS.  furnished  by  granddaughter. 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   TENNESSEE.  149 

He  was  the  first  representative  from  Davidson  county  (Tenn.)  in 
North  Carolina  legislature. 

Member  of  North  Carolina  assembly,  1787,  1790,  1791. 

President  of  North  Carolina  state  bank. 

Was  appointed  by  Washington  supervisor  of  all  the  ports  of  North 
Carolina,  which  he  retained  until  the  office  was  abolished. 

Was  a  member  of  the  Cincinnati  society. 

At  the  surrender  of  Coruwallis  at  Yorktown. 

At  the  "  Cowpens,"  where  his  brother  Thomas  was  killed. 

Query :  Did  not  Colonel  Polk  give  the  name  of  Nashville  and 
Davidson  to  the  city  and  county  ?  Having  been  at  the  side  of  Gen 
eral  Davidson  when  he  fell,  and  with  General  Nash  when  he  was 
killed,  and  being  the  first  representative  from  Davidson,  I  think  con 
firms  the  tradition  that  he  named  or  caused  them  to  be  so  named.  Col 
onel  Polk  was  offered  the  commission  of  brigadier-general  by  Madison, 
in  the  war  of  1812  and  '13,  which  he  in  a  patriotic  letter  declined, 
and  then  tendered  his  service  to  the  governor  of  North  Carolina. 

"  It  was  certainly  creditable  to  the  Scotch-Irish  of  North  Caro 
lina,  as  they  were  the  first  to  secede  from  the  mother  country,  and  so 
remained  that  the  blood  of  one  of  their  -sous  was  the  first  shed  (South) 
in  the  cause  of  Liberty,"  says  Bancroft. 

General  Bishop  Leondias  Polk,  whose  life  was  given  in  the  cause 
of  the  South,  was  a  son  of  Colonel  William  Polk.  General  Lucius  E. 
Polk  is  a  grandson. 

ANTOINETTE   POLK. 

A  granddaughter  of  Colonel  William  Polk,  Antoinette  Polk, 
married  Baron  de  Charette,  nephew  of  Comte  De  Chambord,  the 
Orleans  claimant,  until  his  death,  of  the  French  throne.  She  is  a 
charming  and  noble  woman,  and  is  well  remembered  in  Maury 
county  for  her  courage  and  daring  horsemanship,  and  also  for  a 
famous  race. 

Before  Columbia,  Tenn.,  was  taken  possession  of  by  either  army, 
General  Wilder  and  his  cavalry  made  a  dash  into  the  town  to  surprise 
and  capture  Confederate  soldiers,  who  were  scattered  at  Ashwood  and 
country  houses  near  the  town. 

Antionette  Polk,  then  a  girl  of  sixteen,  was  at  her  uncle's,  Dr. 
William  Folk's  home,  the  site  of  the  present  U.  S.  arsenal.  Hearing 
of  the  raid,  she  ran  to  the  stable,  saddled  her  fine  blooded  horse,  and 
not  taking  time  for  gloves,  started  off  to  give  the  alarm  to  the  soldiers 
along  the  pike,  and  at  Ashwood.  As  she  emerged  from  the  woods  she 
saw  she  was  pursued  by  several  cavalrymen.  A  countryman,  seeing 
her  danger,  jumped  from  his  cart,  threw  wide  open  the  gate,  and 


150  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA.. 

through  she  darted,  followed  by  the  cavalrymen,  and  then  they  raced  six 
miles  down  the  Mt.  Pleasant  pike.  Though  they  picked  up  the  long 
ostrich  plumes  and  hat  with  which  she  whipped  her  horse,  the  lady,  the 
soldiers  said,  vanished  from  their  sight;  but  when  she  was  taken  faint 
ing  from  her  horse  near  Mt.  Pleasant,  she  had  accomplished  her  work, 
and  not  a  soldier  was  taken  prisoner  at  Ashwood. 

The  part  taken  by  this  distinguished  family  in  the  late  war  be 
tween  the  states  is  beyond  the  limits  our  time  will  allow. 

Bishop  (General)  Leonidas  Polk,  and  General  Lucius  Eugene 
Polk  will  appear  in  future  history  as  the  peers  of  the  foremost  men  of 
their  day.  President  James  K.  Polk  belongs  to  another  place  in  this 
address. 

Let  us  return  to  our  proper  chronological  point,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  of  Mecklenburg,  May  20,  1775.  The  first  voice 
publicly  raised  in  America  to  dissolve  all  connections  with  Great 
Britain  came  from  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians.  To  those  at 
Mecklenburg  are  to  be  added  an  assembly  of  the  same  people  at 
Hanna's  Town,  Western  Pennsylvania,  May,  1776. 

ALEXAJtDER   CRAIGHEAD. 

If  Presbyterians  were  the  first,  and  Scotch-Irish  in  the  front  line 
of  advance  in  the  march  toward  American  independence,  I  would  be 
untrue  to  history  if  I  did  not  direct  attention  to  the  fact  that  Alex 
ander  Craighead  was  the  single  file  at  a  good  distance  in  front  of  the 
column.  As  early  as  1743,  we  find  Mr.  Craighead  in  Pennsylvania, 
charged  by  Thomas  Cookson,  one  of  his  majesty's  justices  for  Lancaster 
county,  before  Presbytery,  for  the  publication  of  a  pamphlet  "  which 
tended  to  dissatisfaction  with  the  civil  government  that  we  are  now 
under."  Later  we  find  Mr.  Craighead  in  Hanover,  Va.,  and  from 
thence  we  follow  him  to  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina,  where  we  hear 
him  thus  spoken  of  by  Rev.  A.  \V.  Miller  in  his  centennial  discourse, 
delivered  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  May  20,  1875. 

"  To  the  immortal  Craighead,  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  Ire 
land,  who  finally  settled  in  Mecklenburg  in  1755,  '  the  only  minister 
between  the  Yadkin  and  the  Catawlm,'  who  found  in  North  Carolina 
what  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  denied  him — sympathy  with  the 
patriotic  views  he  had  been  publicly  proclaiming  since  1741 — to  this 
apostle  of  liberty,  the  people  of  Mecklenburg  are  indebted  for  that 
training  which  placed  them  in  the  forefront  of  American  patriots  and 
heroes.  It  was  at  this  fountain  that  Dr.  Ephrairn  Brevard  and  his 
honored  associates  drew  their  inspirations  of  liberty.  So  diligent  and 
successful  was  the  training  of  this  devoted  minister  and  patriot ;  so 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF    TENNESSEE.  151 

far  in  advance  even  of  the  Presbyterians  of  every  other  colony  had  he 
carried  the  people  of  this  and  adjacent  counties,  that  on  the  very  day, 
May  20,  1775,  on  which  the  General  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  convened  in  Philadelphia,  issued  a  pastoral  letter  to  all  its 
churches,  counseling  them,  while  defending  their  rights  by  force  of 
arms,  to  stand  fast  in  their  allegiance  to  the  British  throue,  on  that 
Jay  the  streets  of  Charlotte  were  resounding  with  the  shouts  of  free 
men,  greeting  the  first  declaration  of  American  independence." 

As  we  found  an  ancestor  of  Alexander  Craighead  (viz.)  Rev. 
Robert,  standing  for  liberty  at  a  critical  hour  in  the  history  of  the 
church  in  Ulster,  so  we  find  later  his  son,  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead, 
in  Haysborough,  six  miles  east  of  Nashville,  the  first  President  of 
Davidson  Academy.  The  academy  was  erected  into  Davidson  College, 
July  9,  1805,  and  Mr.  Craighead  became  the  first  president.  He, 
with  John  Hall,  of  Suraner,  and  Geo.  McWhirter,  of  Wilson  county, 
all  Scotch-Irish,  did  more  than  any  men  of  that  day,  west  of  the 
Cumberland  mountains,  to  form  on  a  high  moral  plane  the  manhood 
of  the  youth  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Robust 
manhood,  a  high  sense  of  honor,  devotion  to  liberty,  enthusiastic 
patriotism,  with  excellent  mental  training,  gave  to  our  state  a  bevy 
of  great  men  in  all  that  constitutes  true  greatness. 

The  first  settler  in  Tennessee  was  perhaps  Captain  Wm.  Bean, 
whoso  relation  to  the  Scotch-Irish  race  is  unknown.  In  1770,  came 
Scotch-Irish  James  Robertson,  who  should  have  by  right  the  appella 
tion  of  father  of  Tennessee.  He  was  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Watauga.  The  troubled  state  of  affairs  in  North  Carolina  soon  begot 
a  steady  stream  of  hardy,  daring  settlers. 

THE   WATAUGA   SETTLERS, 

in  convention  assembled,  formed  a  written  constitution,  and  elected  as 
commissioners  thirteen  citizens.  They  were:  John  Carter,  Charles 
Robertson,  James  Robertson,  Zach.  Isbell,  John  Sevier,  James  Smith, 
Jacob  Brown,  William  Beau,  John  Jones,  George  Russell,  Jacob  Wo- 
mack,  Robert  Lucas,  William  Tatham.  Of  these  John  Carter,  Chas. 
Robertson,  James  Robertson,  Zach.  Isbell,  and  John  Sevier,  it  is 
believed,  were  selected  as  the  court — of  which  William  Tatham  was 
the  clerk.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  account  of  the  lives  of  all 
these  pioneers  is  so  meager  and  unsatisfactory.  The  biography  of 
each  of  them  would  be  now  valuable  and  interesting.  All  of  the 
names  mentioned,  except  Sevier,  seem  to  be,  from  their  agreement 
with  the  names  of  well  known  Scotch-Irish  in  North  Carolina  and  the 
valley  of  Virginia,  of  the  same  race. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  the  facts,  after  some  care  be- 


152  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

stowed  upon  the  question,  this  is  not  only  what  Ramsey  calls  it,  "  the 
first  written  compact  of  civil  government  west  of  the  Alleghanies," 
but  the 

FIRST   WRITTEN   CONSTITUTION 

born  of  a  convention  of  people  on  this  continent.  The  old  colonies 
brought  with  them  the  common  law  of  England ;  they  received 
charters  from  the  English  throne,  added  legislation  under  these  char 
ters;  but  of  constitutions  having  their  origin  in  the  breast  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  born  of  a  convention  of  the  people,  this  is  the  first  recorded 
in  history.  This  act  bears  date  1772.  The  constitution  of  Virginia 
bears  date,  June  12,  1776;  North  Carolina,  December  18,  1776; 
Maryland,  August  14,  1776 ;  New  Jersey,  July  2,  1776 ;  Massachu 
setts,  1779. 

These,  so  far  as  time  has  enabled  me  to  ascertain,  are  the  earliest 
state  constitutions.  I  leave  to  the  future  historian  the  query  as  to 
whether  Alexander  Craighead  or  Patrick  Henry  deserves  the  first 
place  as  pioneers  of  American  independence.  Whether  to  James 
Robertson  or  Alexander  Hamilton  we  are  to  give  the  name  of  consti 
tution  builder.  In  either  case,  the  Scotch-Irish,  with  a  trace  of  Hu 
guenot  blood,  win  the  pre-eminence  over  all  other  races.  Or  if  to 
Madison  the  greatest  credit  of  the  constitution  belongs — his  ancestors 
being  unknown — we  have  the  Scotch-Irish  Donald  Robertson,  his  first 
teacher. 

It  is  a  marvel  how  we  have  slept  over  these  glorious  achievements 
of  our  fathers,  and  have  come  to  the  last  moment  of  possible  rescue 
before  we  arouse  ourselves  to  see  that  history  shall  do  them  justice. 
Had  we  begun  this  work,  even  thirty  years  ago,  priceless  facts  had 
been  saved  from  the  oblivion  to  which  they  have  gone.  Massachu 
setts  makes  a  rival  constitutional  claim,  founded  on  the  paper  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  the  Pilgrims  before  landing  on  Plymouth  Rock. 
But  this  paper  recognizes  the  loyalty  of  the  signers  to  the  king,  and  is 
destitute  of  the  Scoth-Irish  doctrine,  long  before  announced,  that  right 
government  must  have  its  origin  in  the  breast  of  the  people.  The  au 
thor  of  the  "  Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution,"  evidently  on  grounds 
of  fancy,  rather  than  proof,  gives  the  chief  credit  of  the  constitutional 
movement  at  Watauga  to  John  Sevier.  I  would  pluck  no  laurel  from 
the  brow  of  Tennessee's  first  governor.  He  has  many,  and  wears  them 
worthily,  but  by  every  token  of  well  attested  history  of  the  two  men, 
this  act  is  much  more  like  the 

SCOTCH-IRISH   ROBERTSON 

than  the  French  Sevier;  much  more  the  act  of  the  statesman  than 
the  soldier.  Sevier  was  vivacious,  frolicsome,  brave;  Robertson,  se- 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF  TENNESSEE.  153 

date,  subtle,  wise,-  and  brave,  as  well.  The  superior  diplomatic  pow 
ers  of  Robertson  are  seen  in  the  early  meeting  with  the  Indians  to  set 
tle  the  question  of  title.*  Robertson  was  the  spokesman.  When  all 
had  been  settled,  on  the  last  day  of  the  gathering  it  had  been  arranged 
that  a  foot-race  should  take  place  between  the  younger  braves  and  the 
young  men  of  the  settlement,  on  the  open  ground  along  the  southern 
bank  of  the  river.  The  race  was  in  full  progress,  and  among  the 
younger  men  all  was  mirth,  hilarity,  and  good-natured  emulation,  and 
even  the  older  chieftains,  catching  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  had  re 
laxed  from  their  habitual  gravity,  and  were  cheering  on  the  contest- 
ents,  when  suddenly  a  musket-shot  echoed  over  the  grounds,  and  one 
of  the  young  braves,  the  near  kinsman  of  a  chieftain,  fell  in  his  tracks 
lifeless.  The  report  came  from  the  woods  near  the  race-ground,  and 
pursuit  failed  to  discover  the  assassin,  but  there  could  be  no  question 
that 

HE   WAS   A   WHITE   MAN. 

It  was  as  if  the  shot  had  been  fired  into  a  magazine  of  gunpowder. 
The  Cherokees  were  there  without  arms,  or  there  might  have  followed 
a  bloody  tragedy.  As  it  was,  they  silently  gathered  their  goods  to 
gether,  and,  with  threatening  gestures  and  faces  presaging  a  bloody 
vengeance,  rapidly  stole  away  into  the  forest. 

It  was  subsequently  discovered  that  the  murderer  was  a  young 
man  named  Crabtree,  from  the  Wolf  Hills  (now  Abingdou),  Virginia, 
about  fifty  miles  to  the  north-east.  A  brother  of  his  had,  not  long 
before,  been  killed  by  the  Shawnees,  while  engaged  in  exploring  with 
Boone  in  Kentucky,  and  he  had  taken  this  inopportune  time  for  his 
revenge.  The  Indians  had  left  hastily,  giving  the  whites  no  time  for 
explanation  or  parley.  Revenge — blood  for  blood — was  the  cardinal 
doctrine  of  their  theology,  and,  if  something  were  not  done  at  once  to 
avert  it,  war,  bloody  and  exterminating,  would  soon  be  upon  the  set 
tlers.  What  could  be  done  to  avert  it?  To  flee  the  country  would 
be  to  merely  invite  pursuit,  and  a  hundred  miles  of  wilderness  lay  be 
tween  them  and  any  safe  asylum.  To  remain  was  just  as  hazardous, 
for  how  could  this  handful  of  one  hundred  men  sustain  a  conflict  with 

THREE   THOUSAND    INFURIATED   SAVAGES? 

Hastily,  the  settlers  gathered  together  in  council,  and  then  it  was 
that  Robertson  volunteered,  like  Curtius,  to  ride  into  the  breach— at 
the  peril  of  his  life,  to  visit  and  endeavor  to  pacify  the  enraged  Che.ro- 
kees.  It  was  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  an  unbroken  forest, 
with  death  lurking  behind  every  tree  that  grew  by  the  way;  but 

*  Ramsey,  and  "Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution." 


154  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

what,  he  said,  was  one  life  periled  to  save  five  hundred?  Thus  Rob 
ertson  reasoned  with  his  neighbors  and  friends;  and  then,  giving  a 
parting  kiss  to  his  wife  and  child,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  off 
into  the  wilderness.  History  contains  few  acts  so  daring,  so  full  of 
the  highest  courage,  so  truly  altruistic.  To  charge  with  comrades  on 
the  field  of  battle  in  no  sense  reaches  to  the  sublime  height  of  an  act 
like  this.  He  succeeded  in  his  mission,  and  four  years  of  peace  fol 
lowed. 

Robertson,  as  is  well  known,  came  early  to  the  French  Lick  set 
tlement  on  the  Cumberland,  now  Nashville.  Here  he  repeated  the 
same  act  of  founding  constitutional  government  in  which  he  had  led 
at  Watauga.  Here  he  repeats  his  skillful  diplomacy  with  Indian  and 
Spanish  agent  alike.  His  manly  bearing,  his  great  strength  of  char 
acter,  and  profound  knowledge  of  men,  make  him  the  trusted  leader. 
After  detailing  many  of  his  military  expeditions  and  negotiations, 
Ramsey,  the  venerable  historian,  says:  "The  people  of  Tennessee 
have  reason  to 

VENERATE   THE  MEMORY 

of  James  Robertson,  alike  for  his  military  and  civil  services,  and  the 
earnest  and  successful  manner  in  which  he  conducted  his  negotiations 
for  peace  and  commerce.  His  probity  and  weight  of  character  se 
cured  to  his  remonstrances  with  Indian  and  Spanish  agents  respectful 
attention  and  consideration.  His  earnest  and  truthful  manner  was 
rarely  disregarded  by  either." 

While  Robertson  was  thus  building  up  constitutional  government 
and  laying  broadly  the  foundation  of  western  empire,  Sevier  allowed 
himself  to  become  involved  in  the  unfortunate  feuds  of  the  State  of 
Franklin.  Every-where  he  appears  the  glorious  soldier,  the  magnani 
mous  friend ;  but  had  Robertson  been  at  Watauga  instead  of  French 
Lick,  Colonel  Arthur  Campbell,  who  was  the  real  originator  of  the 
State  of  Franklin,  could  never  have  led  him  to  the  steps  taken  by 
Sevier.  He,  Robertson,  would  never  have  been  led  to  the  grave  mis 
take  of  the  attack  on  Tipton's  house.  Colonel  Arthur  Campbell  waa 
a  restless  spirit,  full  of  theories;  a  man  of  much  more  educational 
culture  than  either  Robertson  or  Sevier;  did  the  writing  that  produced 
the  State  of  Franklin;  prepared  the  constitution  first  presented  to  the 
convention.  Patrick  Henry,  then  governor  of  Virginia,  says,  in  a 
communication  to  the  legislature:  "The  limits  proposed  for  the  new 
government  of  Frankland  by  Colonel  Arthur  Campbell,  and  the  peo 
ple  of  Virginia,  who  aimed  at  a  separation  from  that  state,  were  ex 
pressed  in  the  form  of  a  constitution,  which  Colonel  Campbell  drew  up 
for  public  examination." 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   TENNESSEE.  155 

His  county  in  Virginia  did  not  follow  his  wishes  and  become  con 
nected  with  the  new  state.  His  brother-in-law,  Colonel  Wm.  Camp 
bell,  of  King's  Mountain  fame,  opposed  the  movement,  and  was  more 
influential  with  the  people.  Judge  David  Campbell,  his  brother, 
though  not  originally  favoring  the  formation  of  a  state,  became  after 
ward  its  ablest  counselor  and  apologist,  yet  so  retained,  by  his  con 
servative  course,  the  confidence  of  both  parties,  that  he  held  the  high 
est  judicial  positions  under  both  states.  I  have  no  disposition  to 
pursue  the  question  growing  out  of  the  formation  of  the  State  of 
Franklin  further  than  to  make  good  a  claim  that  the  origin  or  main 
tenance  of  well- organized  government  in  Watauga  and  in  the  French 
Lick  settlement  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  same  great  pioneer  genius, 
James  Robertson.  I  have  seen  the  private  papers  of  Colonel  Arthur 
Campbell,  which  manifest  a  subtle  genius,  a  fondness  for  elaborate 
writing.  His  letters,  to  the  last,  were  very  long,  almost  equal  to  a 
modern  newspaper,  and  filled  with  political  discussion.  He  was  more 
than  once  on  military  expeditions  with  Sevier.  In  one  of  the  most 
extended  of  the  Sevier  expeditions  enumerated  to  the  credit  of  Sevier 
in  the  "Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution,"  he,  and  not  Sevier  commanded. 
I  have  seen  his  official  reportof  the  expedition  in  his  own  chirography. 

I  had  at  one  time  proposed  to  give  the  names  of  the  early  set 
tlers  of  Tennessee,  both  east  and  middle,  that  could  be  identified  as 
Scotch-Irish,  but  have  been  led  to  abandon  that  purpose  for  several 
reasons  :  First.  We  are  a  generation  too  late  in  attempting  to  gather 
many  of  the  necessary  facts  the  last  generation  might  have  given 
them ;  this  generation  can  not ;  many  families  have  not  preserved  the 
records  back  of  the  first  settlers.  I  have  found  many  descendants  of 
our  more  prominent  families  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  their  ancestors 
were  Scotch-Irish,  when  on  examining  the  material  at  hand,  I  have 
been  able  to  find  ample  proof  of  the  fact ;  it  would  therefore  be  in 
vidious  to  offer  a  list  of  names  of  families  unless  the  list  could  be  made 
comparatively  complete.  Second.  On  further  study  of  the  question, 
it  is  evident  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  early  settlers  of  our 
state  were  Scotch-Irish,  so  that  every  Tenuessean  descending  from  our 
first  hardy  settlers  is  to  be  put  down  as  of  this  people,  if  he  can  not 
prove  his  descent  to  be  otherwise.  The  author  of  the  "Rear  Guard" 
thus  speaks  of  the  early  settlers  who  came  to  Watauga  after  Robert 
son's  peace  with  O-ka-na-sto-ta : 

"They  were  nearly  all  from  Virginia,  and  of  Scotch-Irish  de 
scent,  generally  poor,  and  threading  the  old  Indian  war-path,  or  pome 
narrow  trace  blazed  by  the  hunters,  with  only  a  single  pack-horse, 
which  carried  all  their  worldly  possessions.  But  they  had  strong 


156  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

arms  and  stout  hearts,  and  added  at  once  to  the  wealth  and  security 
of  the  young  community.  They  became,  by  the  mere  act  of  settle 
ment,  large  land-owners,  and  their  names  are  borne  to-day  by  many 
of  the  leading  families  of  the  south-west.  Forts,  modeled  after  the 
one  at  Watauga,  were  built  for  the  protection  of  the  outlying  settlers, 
and  the  colonists  soon  felt  as  secure  as  in  their  old  -  homes  in  Vir 
ginia." 

Later,  Ramsey  tells  of  further  Scotch-Irish  under  Colonel  David 
Campbell,  forted  near  Kuoxville,  old  soldiers  of  King's  Mountain. 
To  show  that  these  were  not  the  ignorant  people  the  author  of  the 
Rear  Guard  seems  to  indicate,  I  here  give  the  names  of  books  taken 
from  a  single  shelf  in  my  library  which  have  come  down  to  me — books 
from  homes  of  old  Scotch-Irish  : 

Abbe  Reynal's  Histories,  1750  begun. 

Hume's  History. 

Female  Spectator,  1775. 

Essays,  Hugh  Knox,  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  1804. 

Pollock's  Course  of  Time. 

Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  1766. 

Dodridge's  Works,  1792. 

Life  of  Ireland,  Winchester,  Va.,  1819. 

Newton's  Works,  1792. 

Night  Thoughts,  1770. 

Hervey's  Meditations. 

Pope's  Essays. 

Newton  on  Prophecies,  1782. 

Discourses  on  God's  Sovereignty,  1772,  by  Elisha  Coles. 

William  Cowper,  1792. 

The  Boston  Collection  of  Hymns,  1808. 

"A  Plan  for  Female  Education,"  by  Erasmus  Darwin,  1798. 

On  Solitude.  Michael  W.  Hogan,  Limerick,  on  one  of  the  blank 
pages.  Title  page  gone. 

Sin  iu  Believers,  John  Owen,  D.D.,  Glasgow,  1758. 

Joseph  us. 

Taking  the  early  histories  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  annals  of 
the  settlement  of  middle  Tennessee,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  largest 
proportion  of  the  settlers  were  from  the  Scotch-Irish  counties  of  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia.  Among  the  first  we  have  from  Ramsey: 
"A  settlement  of  less  than  a  dozen  families  was  formed  near  Bledsoe's 
Lick  (1778),  isolated  in  the  heart  of  the  Chickasaw  nation,  with  no 
other  protection  than  their  own  courage,  and  a  small  stockade  in- 
closure.  In  the  early  spring  of  1779,  a  little  colony  of  gallant  ad- 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OP   TENNESSEE.  157 

venturers,  from  the  parent  hive  at  Watauga,  crossed  the  Cumberland 
Mountain,  penetrated  the  intervening  wilds,  and  pitched  their  tents 
near  the  French  Lick,  and  planted  a  field  of  corn  where  the  city  of 
Nashville  now  stands.  This  field  was  at  the  spot  where  Joseph  Park 
since  resided,  and  near  the  lower  ferry.  These  pioneers  were  Captain 
James  Robertson,  George  Freeland,  William  Neely,  Edward  Swanson, 
James  Hauly,  Mark  Robertson,  Zachariah  White,  and  William 
Overhall. 

"  While  Robertson  and  his  co-emigrants  were  thus  reaching  the 
Cumberland  by  the  circuitous  and  dangerous  trace  through  the  wilder 
ness  of  Kentucky,  others  of  their  countrymen  were 

UNDERGOING   GREATER   HARDSHIPS, 

enduring  greater  sufferings,  and  experiencing  greater  privations  upon 
another  route,  not  less  circuitous  and  far  more  perilous,  in  aiming  at 
the  same  destination.  Soon  after  the  former  had  left  the  Holston  set 
tlements  on  their  march  by  land,  several  boats  loaded  with  emigrants 
and  their  property  left  Fort  Patrick  Henry,  near  Long  Island,  on  a 
voyage  down  the  Holston  and  Tennessee,  and  up  the  Ohio  and  Cum 
berland.  The  distance  traversed  in  this  inland  voyage,  the  extreme 
danger  from  the  navigation  of  the  rapid  and  unknown  rivers,  and  the 
hostile  attacks  from  the  savages  upon  their  banks,  mark  the  emigra 
tion  under  Colonel  Donelson  as  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  in  the 
settlement  of  the  west." 

Without  going  into  details,  which  would  protract  too  much  the 
time,  I  quote  from  Phelan's  "Tennessee"  his  summary,  leaving  out 
such  names  as  are  known  to  be  of  other  blood : 

"  The  names  of  these  adventurous  navigators  and  bold  pioneers 
of  the  Cumberland  country  are  not,  all  of  them,  recollected  ;  some  of 
them  follow :  Mrs.  Robertson,  the  wife  of  James  Robertson,  Col. 
Donelsou,  John  Donelson,  Jun.,  Robert  Cartwright,  Benjamin  Porter, 
James  Cain,  Isaac  Neely,  John  Cotton,.  Mr.  Rouusever,  Jonathan 
Jennings,  William  Crutchfield,  Moses  Reufroe,  Joseph  Renfroe,  James 

Renfroe,  Solomon  Turpin, Johns,  Sen.,  Francis  Armstrong,  Isaac 

Lauier,  Daniel  Dunham,  John  Boyd,  John  Montgomery,  John  Cock- 
rill,  and  John  Caffrey,  with  their  respective  families;  also  J\I:iiy 
Henry,  a  widow,  and  her  family,  Mary  Purnell  and  her  family,  John 
Blackmore,  and  John  Gibson.  These,  with  the  emigrants  already 
mentioned  as  having  arrived  with  Robertson  by  the  way  of  the  Ken 
tucky  trace,  and  the  few  that  had  remained  at  the  bluff  to  take  care 
of  the  growing  crops,  constituted  the  nucleus  of  the  Cumberland  com 
munity  in  1780.  Some  of  them  plunged  at  once  into  the  adjoining 


158  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMERICA. 

forests,  and  built  a  cabin  with  its  necessary  defenses.  Col.  Donelson, 
himself,  with  his  connections,  was  of  this  number.  He  went  up  the 
Cumberland  and  settled  upon  Stone's  river,  a  confluent  of  that  stream, 
at  a  place  on  its  south  side.  The  situation  was  found  to  be  too  low, 
as  the  water,  during  a  freshet,  surrounded  the  fort,  and  it  was,  for  that 
reason,  removed  to  the  north  side." 

The  names  Nashville  and  Davidson  county  are  testimonials  to  the 
blood  of  the  inhabitants,  while  Montgomery  county  adds  another,  and 
Sumner  is  dotted  with  licks  and  creeks  which  retain  the  names  of  these 
early  Scotch-Irish  settlers.  The  original  Maury  county  is  a  cluster  of 
Scotch-Irish  with  scarcely  a  drop  of  alien  blood.  The  bravery  of  these 
people,  coupled  with  their  sturdy  endurance  of  privation  and  savage 
warfare,  is  without  any  parallel  in  the  early  settlement  of  America. 
In  the  north-west  the  settler  followed  the  soldier,  often  also  the  settler 
followed  the  roads  ;  here  the  settler  was  the  only  soldier,  and  no  roads 
were  known  until  he  created  them  under  his  own  organized  govern 
ment. 

At  first,  as  we  have  seen,  emigrants  came  by  a  circuitous  route 
through  Kentucky  or  along  the  dangerous  navigation  of  the  Tennes 
see  ;  as  soon  as  the  settlers  could  organize  they  cut  a  road  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  in  length  from  Campbell's  Station,  in  East  Tennes 
see,  to  Nashville,  and  sent  properly  officered  squads  to  protect  the 
emigrants  en  route.  The  stories  of  the  heroic  actions  and  brave  en 
durance  of  many  of  the  women  on  these  long  journeys  kindled  in  my 
boyhood  a  passionate  admiration  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  part 
taken  by  Mrs.  Buchanan  in  the  fort  just  east  of  Nashville,  molding 
bullets  and  carrying  in  her  apron  over  an  uncovered  space  to  the  men 
as  they  fired  from  the  port-holes,  has  been  often  told.  At  Campbell's 
Station,  on  occasion  of  an  attack,  when  the  men  reached  the  house 
from  the  field,  they  found  the  women  had  already  barred  the  doors, 
loaded  the  rifles,  and  the  commander  of  the  fort  found  his  wife,  gun 
in  hand,  at  the  port-hole. 

While  two  armies,  one  under  General  Harmar  and  another  under 
General  St.  Clair,  and,  finally,  a  third,  under  that  thunderbolt  of  war, 
General  Anthony  Wayne,  had  been  sent  forward  by  the  general  gov 
ernment  for  the  protection  of  the  north-western  settlers,  the  Tennessee 
settlers  were  left  to  work  out  their  own  destiny,  tempted  by  Spanish 
officers,  importuned  by  French  promises.  "The  Indians,  incited  by 
the  British  and  Spaniards,  constantly  harried  around  the  stations,  the 
springs,  and  the  fields,  ambushed  the  paths  from  station  to  station, 
roamed  the  woods  like  sleuth-hounds  to  seize  the  adventurous  hunter, 
stole  their  horses,  killed  their  cattle,  drove  off  the  wild  game  to  produce 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   TENNESSEE.  159 

famine.  So  terrific  at  one  time  became  the  ordeal,  that  all  the  stations 
were  abandoned  except  Eaton's  and  the  Bluffs  (Nashville).  The  sta 
tioners  went  in  armed  squads  to  the  springs,  and  plowed  while  armed 
sentinels  guarded  the  fields."  Deaths  by  Indians  were  of  almost 
weekly  occurrence.  Many  of  the  settlers  left  in  despair;  but  the 
Scotch-Irish  blood  in  the  veins  of  Robertson,  Ewing,  Rains,  Buchanan, 
and  Donaldson,  after  solemn  counsel  and  compact,  said,  we  will  stay.* 
On  the  22d  of  April,  1781,  the  Indians,  by  a  well  planned  stratagem, 
attempted  to  take  the  Bluffs,  which  was  considered  the  Gibraltar  of 
the  Cumberland.  A  decoy  party  drew  the  men  away  from  the  fort 
into  an  ambush.  When  they  dismounted  to  give  battle,  their  horses 
dashed  off  toward  the  fort,  and  they  were  pursued  by  some  Indians, 
which  left  a  gap  in  their  lines,  through  which  some  whites  were  escap 
ing  to  the  fort.  Just  then  another  large  body  of  Indians  were  seen 
from  the  fort  emerging  from  another  ambush,  intercepting  the  whites 
and  making  for  the  fort.  All  seemed  lost.  We  are  ready  to  shut  our 
eyes  upon  the  horrid  scene,  and  stop  our  ears  against  the  wail  of  women 
and  children  as  they  are  sinking  under  the  tomahawk  and  scalpiug- 
knife.  But  no!  the  heroic  women,  headed  by  Mrs.  James  Robertson, 
seized  the  axes  and  idle  guns,  and  planted  themselves  in  the  gate, 
resolved  to  die  rather  than  give  up  the  fort.  Just  in  time,  she  ordered 
the  sentry  to  turn  loose  a  pack  of  dogs,  selected  for  their  size  and 
courage  to  encounter  bears  and  panthers,  and  that  were  frantic  to  join 
the  fray.  They  dashed  off,  outyelling  the  savages,  who  recoiled  before 
the  fury  of  their  onset,  giving  the  men  time  to  escape  into  the  fort.  It 
is  said  that  Mrs.  Robertson  "  patted  every  dog  as  he  came  into  the  fort." 

Through  it  all,  our  first  progenitors  held  true  to  their  first  compact 
of  equal  rights,  mutual  protection,  impartial  justice,  urith  the  reserved  power 
of  removing  the  unfaithful  from  office,  and  to  the  soil  where  they  had 
elected  to  make  their  struggle  for  liberty  and  homes. 

To  give  the  temper  of  the  Scotch-Irish  women,  I  give  the  follow 
ing: 

A   WHIG   WEDDING   IN   DERBY   DURING   THE   REVOLUTION. 

In  Dunlap's  Pennsylvania  Packet  for  June  17,  1778,  then  pub 
lished  at  Lancaster  during  the  occupation  of  Philadelphia  by  the 
British,  we  find  the  following  reference  to  the  marriage  of  Jane, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Roan,  to  William  Clingan,  Jr.: 

"Was  married  last  Thursday  (June  11,  1778),  Mr.  William 
Clingan,  Jr.,  of  Donegal,  to  Miss  Jenny  Roan,  of  Londonderry,  both 
of  this  county  of  Lancaster;  a  sober,  sensible,  agreeable  young 

*  Address  of  General  Bright. 


160  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

couple,  and  very  sincere  Whigs.  This  marriage  promises  much  happi 
ness  as  the  state  of  things  in  this  our  sinful  world  will  admit.  This 
was  truly  a  Whig  wedding,  as  there  were  present  many  young  gentle 
men  and  ladies,  and  not  one  of  the  gentlemen  but  had  been  out  when 
called  on  in  the  service  of  his  country ;  and  it  was  well  known  that 
the  groom,  in  particular,  had  proved  his  heroism,  as  well  as  Whigism, 
in  several  battles  and  skirmishes.  After  the  marriage  was  ended,  a 
motion  was  made,  and  heartily  agreed  to  by  all  present,  that  the 
young  unmarried  ladies  should  form  themselves  into  an  association  by 
the  name  of  the  '  Whig  Association  of  Unmarried  Young  Ladies  of 
America,'  in  which  they  should  pledge  their  honor  that  they  would 
never  give  their  hand  in  marriage  to  any  gentleman  until  he  had  first 
proved  himself  a  patriot,  in  readily  turning  out  when  called  to  defend 
his  country  from  slavery,  by  a  spirited  and  brave  conduct,  as  they 
would  not  wish  to  be  the  mothers  of  a  race  of  slaves  and  cowards." 

All  honor  to  the  memories  of  those  patriotic  women  of  Dauphin 
in  the  war  for  independence!  This  was  a  Scotch-Irish  county.  Rev. 
John  Roan  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  the  uncle  who  reared  Archibald 
Roan,  afterward  governor  of  Tennessee.  The  latter  was  among  the 
earlier  settlers,  and  married  the  sister  of  Judge  David  and  Colonel 
Arthur  Campbell. 

There  are  two  men,  Duncan  Robertson  and  Montgomery  Bell, 
who,  on  grounds  of  distinguished  philanthropy  and  liberality,  deserve 
to  be  mentioned  in  every  sketch  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  our  county  of 
Davidson. 

Monette,  in  his  "Valley  of  the  Mississippi,"  says:  "Tennessee, 
not  inaptly,  has  been  called  the  mother  of  states.  From  the  bosom  of 
this  state  have  issued  more  colonies  for  the  peopling  of  the  great  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  than  from  any  one  state  in  the  American  Union. 
Her  emigrant  citizens  have  formed  a  very  important  portion  of  the 
population  of  Alabama,  of  the  northern  half  of  Mississippi  and 
Florida.  They  have  also  formed  the  principal  portion  of  the  early 
population  of  the  states  of  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Texas. 

The  first  settlers  of  Tennessee  not  only  through  years  of  manly 
struggle  and  endurance  combined  the  work  of  the  pioneer  settler  with 
that  of  soldier,  but  early  won  as  volunteers  the  rightful  claim  of  pro 
tector  of  the  regions  beyond  them  south  and  west.  We  do  not  deem  it 
proper  to  enter  into  the  part  taken  by  the  Scotch-Irish  of  western 
Virginia  and  Tennessee,  and  North  and  South  Carolina,  in  the  critical 
battle  of  Kings  Mountain — that  has  been  left  for  others.  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  the  men  who  fought  that  battle  were  almost  to  a  man 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF   TENNESSEE.  161 

of  this  heroic  race.  In  their  history  they  are  three  times  called  upon 
during  the  revolutionary  struggle  to  repel  the  combined  attempt  of 
English  and  Indians  to  crush  the  struggling  colonies— each  time  they 
cut  the  lines  of  the  advancing  foe,  and  so  dismembered  the  parts  of 
the  plan  of  operation  as  to  thwart  its  ends.  This  is  the  work  so  bril 
liantly  described  in  the  pages  of  the  "Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution." 
It  is  too  well  known  to  detain  you  with  its  recital. 

As  we  find  a  band  of  Scotch-Irish  grouped  around  William 
Campbell  at  Kings  Mountain,  so  we  find  in  the  second  period  of  Ten 
nessee  history, 

ANDREW  JACKSON, 

Whose  father  came  from  Carrickfergus,  Ireland,  to  North  Carolina, 
becomes  the  central  figure  of  all  the  military  movements  of  the  south 
west.  Alabama,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Florida  and  Louisiana  alike, 
find  in  him  and  the  Tennessee  volunteers,  who  come  at  his  call,  their 
deliverers  from  Spanish,  Indian,  and  British  foes.  The  leaders  who 
are  the  arms  of  his  power  are  of  his  own  race.  Generals  CofFe  and 
Carrol,  General  Winchester,  General  William  Hall  and  Colonel 
Henderson.  In  the  fiercest  hours  of  the  struggle  others  of  the  race 
arrest  the  pen  of  history  at  the  battle  of  Horseshoe.  The  Thirty- 
ninth  regiment,  under  Colonel  Williams,  the  brigade  of  East  Tenues- 
seeans,  under  Colonel  Bunch,  marched  rapidly  up  to  the  breastwork 
and  delivered  a  volley  through  the  port-holes.  The  Indians  returned 
the  fire  with  effect,  and,  muzzle  to  muzzle,  the  combatants  for  a  short 
time  contended.  Major  L.  P.  Montgomery,  of  the  Thirty-ninth,  was 
the  first  man  to  spring  upon  the  breastwork,  where,  calling  upon  his 
men  to  follow,  he  received  a  ball  in  his  head,  and  fell  dead  to  the 
ground.  At  that  critical  moment,  young  ensign  Houston  mounted  the 
breastwork.  A  barbed  arrow  pierced  his  thigh  ;  but,  nothing  dis 
mayed,  this  gallant  youth,  calling  his  comrades  to  follow,  leaped  down 
among  the  Indians,  and  soon  cleared  a  space  around  him  with  his 
vigorous  right  arm.  Joined  in  a  moment  by  parties  of  his  own  regi 
ment,  and  by  large  numbers  of  the  East  Tennesseeans,  the  breastwork 
was  soon  cleared,  the  Indians  retiring  before  them  into  the  underbrush. 
The  wounded  ensign  sat  down  within  the  fortification,  and  called  a 
lieutenant  of  his  company  to  draw  the  arrow  from  his  thigh.  Two 
vigorous  pulls  at  the  barbed  weapon  failed  to  extract  it.  In  a  fury  of 
pain  and  impatience,  Houston  cried,  "Try  again,  and  if  you  fail  this 
time,  I  will  smite  you  to  the  earth."  Exerting  all  his  strength,  the 
lieutenant  drew  forth  the  arrow,  tearing  the  flesh  fearfully,  and  caus 
ing  an  effusion  of  blood  that  compelled  the  wounded  man  to  hurry 
over  the  breastwork  to  get  the  wound  bandaged.  While  he  was  lying 
11 


162  THE   SCOTCH  IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

on  the  ground  under  the  surgeon's  hands,  the  general  rode  up,  and 
recognizing  his  young  acquaintance,  ordered  him  not  to  cross  the 
breastwork  again.  Houston  begged  him  to  recall  the  order,  but  the 
general  repeated  it  peremptorily  and  rode  on.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
ensign  had  disobeyed  the  command,  and  was  once  more  with  his  com 
pany,  in  the  thick  of  that  long  hand-to-hand  engagement,  which  con 
sumed  the  hours  of  the  afternoon.  Toward  the  close  of  the  afternoon 
it  was  observed  that  a  considerable  number  of  the  Indians  had  found 
a  refuge  under  the  bluffs  of  the  river,  where  a  part  of  the  breastwork, 
the  formation  of  the  ground,  and  the  felled  trees,  gave  them  complete 
protection.  Desirous  to  end  this  horrible  carnage,  Jackson  sent  a 
friendly  Indian  to  announce  to  them  that  their  lives  should  be  spared 
if  they  would  surrender.  They  were  silent  for  a  moment,  as  if  in 
consultation,  and  then  answered  the  summons  by  a  volley,  which  sent 
the  interpreter  bleeding  from  the  scene.  The  cannon  were  now 
brought  up,  and  played  upon  the  spot  without  effect.  Jackson  then 
called  for  volunteers  to  charge :  but  the  Indians  were  so  well  posted, 
that,  for  a  minute,  no  one  responded  to  the  call.  Ensign  Houston 
again  emerges  into  view  on  this  occasion.  Ordering  his  platoon  to  fol 
low,  but  not  waiting  to  see  if  they  would  follow,  he  rushed  to  the  over 
hanging  bank,  which  sheltered  the  foe,  and  through  openings  of  which 
they  were  firing.  Over  this  mine  of  desperate  savages  he  paused,  and 
looked  back  for  his  men.  At  that  moment  he  received  two  balls  in 
his  right  shoulder ;  his  arm  fell  powerless  to  his  side ;  he  staggered 
out  of  the  fire,  and  lay  totally  disabled.  His  share  in  that  day's 
work  was  done.  After  being  elected  governor  of  Tennessee,  this  man 
became  the  Washington  of  Texas. 

A   CHARACTERISTIC   INCIDENT 

of  General  Jackson,  which  I  have  not  seen  in  print,  was  given  me  by 
Judge  Thomas  Barry,  of  Sumner  county,  who  knew*«the  general 
well.  The  judge  himself  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  race.  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  after  his  popularity  had  given  him  a  large  number 
of  namesakes  through  the  country,  was  invited  to  a  public  dinner  in 
his  honor  at  Hartsville,  now  in  Trousdale  county.  After  dinner,  the 
fond  parents  claimed  the  privilege  of  a  hand-shake  for  the  namesakes. 
Judge  Barry  said  that  at  a  little  distance  he  noted  the  fact  that  to 
each  of  the  boys  the  general  gave  a  silver  coin,  accompanied  by  a  re 
mark  he  could  not  hear.  Selecting  one  of  the  larger  boys,  he  asked 
him  what  the  general  had  said  to  him.  The  boy  replied,  "  IIo  put  his 
thumb-nail  on  the  word  liberty,  and  said,  '  For  this  our  country  fought 
through  seven  years ;  never  give  it  up  but  with  your  life.'"  To  him 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   TENNESSEE.  163 

liberty  had  a  meaning.  Men  who  followed  him  adored  it.  There 
was  a  sacredness  and  awe  in  the  tmes  in  which  they  spoke  of  it,  show 
ing  its  profound  impress  upon  the  strong  mold  of  their  natures. 
Jackson  not  only  delivered  the  south-west, -but  gave  us  much  of  what 
is  distinctive  in  the  principles,  and  all  of  what  is  marked  in  the  meth 
ods  of  the  Democratic  party,  affecting  the  life  of  the  nation  as  no  man 
after  Washington  and  before  Lincoln  has  done. 

THE   CONSTITUTION    OP   TENNESSEE, 

in  the  formation  of  which  he  took  a  prominent  part,  was  pronounced 
by  Thomas  Jefferson  the  "  most  republican  of  all  the  constitutions 
adopted  by  the  states."  Jackson's  love  of  liberty  and  of  the  Union 
atone  for  much  of  his  personal  tyranny  when  in  office.  His  force  of 
will  brooked  no  opposition ;  his  intensity  allowed  no  friendship  beyond 
the  bounds  of  agreement;  his  fiery  temper  was  an  exaggeration  of 
true  Scotch  Irish  devotion  to  principle  and  enthusiasm  for  right. 

Besides  the  prominent  soldiers  who  co-operated  with  Jackson,  we 
have  among  his  contemporaries  of  Scotch-Irish  blood  Hugh  L. 
White,  who  in  one  of  Jackson's  greatest  extremities  left  the  ju 
dicial  bench  to  lead  a  party  of  volunteers  to  the  rescue. 
A  man  who  was  brave  as  Jackson,  as  deeply  enamored  of  his 
country's  freedom,  but  one  who  knew  no  arts  to  win  popular  applause 
bevond  lofty  adherence  to  principle,  the  man  who  as  a  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  won  the  vote  of  his  own  stuto 
•over  Jackson's  active  opposition,  one  of  the  purest  and  ablest  of  Amer 
ican  statesmen,  second  only  as  a  statesman  to  one  Tenuessean — John 
Bell. 

The  father  of  John  Bell,  Samuel  Bell,  came  from  North  Caro 
lina  to  Tennessee.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Edmonson,  of  a  family 
largely  represented  in  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  and  in  all  sub 
sequent  military  expeditions  from  Tennessee — Scotch-Irish  on  both 
sides. 

JOHN    BELL 

was  a  student  with  Craighead  in  his  boyhood  ;  elected  to  Congress  over 
Felix  Grundy,  who  was  supported  by  the  warm  personal  influence  of 
General  Jackson;  a  warm  admirer  of  J.  C.  Calhoun,  but  of  such  thor 
ough  independence  of  character,  that  he  was  placed  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  in  the  House  before  which  it  was  supposed  Mr.  Calhoun's 
resolutions  would  come  for  consideration  ;  elected  speaker  of  the  House 
over  James  K.  Polk ;  supported  Hugh  L.  White  for  President,  and 
while  White  carried  the  state,  Bell  carried  the  Hermitage  district  over 
the  whole  force  of  the  administration  and  the  indomitable  exertions 


164  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

of  General  Jackson  ;  entered  the  Senate,  where  he  stood  for  the  Union 
through  every  change  of  administration  ;  favored  the  right  of  petition 
on  the  part  of  the  abolitionists  when  the  whole  South  and  many  of  the 
northern  statesmen  refused  them  the  privilege ;  was  secretary  of  war 
under  Harrison  ;  resigned  when  he  could  not  agree  with  Tyler ;  de 
clined  the  offer  of  re-election  to  the  Senate,  on  the  grounds  that  E.  H. 
Foster  deserved  it  at  the  hands  of  his  party — rare  man  ;  was  re-elected 
at  the  next  vacancy;  stood  for  the  compromise  of  1850;  opposed  the 
doctrine  "  to  the  victor  belongs  the  spoils."  One  of  the  best,  most 
independent  of  American  statesmen,  who  through  all  his  career  loved 
the  American  Union  more  than  he'loved  party  or  power. 

Before  leaving  John  Bell,  duty  to  the  race  whose  place  in  Amer 
ican  civilization  we  are  seeking  to  indicate,  demands  a  reference  to  the 
remarkable  attitude  held  by  him  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  at  the  sec 
ond  most  critical  juncture  in  American  history.  We  have  seen  our 
ancestral  part  in  the  earlier  era ;  again,  in  the  trying  epoch  of  the  na 
tion,  when  the  hour  came  to  test  the  power  of  the  Union  to  hold  in 
one  the  states  which  had  been  gathered  under  the  constitution,  the 
race  stands  out  with  a  prominence  that  I  have  seen  accorded  them  in 
no  annals  of  the  times. 

In  the  Presidential  contest  of  1860,  Lincoln  represented  the  ex 
treme  opinions  of  the  North,  Breckinridge  the  extreme  opinions  of 
the  South.  The  Scotch-Irish  Bell  and  Douglas  stood  for  the  Union 
under  the  constitution.  They  represented,  the  one,  the  conservatism 
of  the  old  Whig  party,  the  other,  the  conservative  element  in  the 
Northern  Democratic  party.  Whatever  of  honor  there  is  in  love  of 
the  Union,  we  claim  that  honor  for  the  Scotch -Irish,  as  represented 
by  these  two  sons  in  the  hour  of  our  country's  greatest  peril. 

The  chronological  order  of  events  demands  that  we  turn  back  to 
the  period  of  the  last  Indian  war,  with  the  Se'minoles  in  Florida,  when 
Tennessee  again  is  found  with  her  volunteers  in  the  fore-front  of  the 
fight.  General  Robert  Armstrong,  Colonel  Wm.  Trousdale,  and 
Captain  Wm.  B.  Campbell,  leading  spirits  of  the  hour,  were  all 
from  Scotch-Irish  ancestors.  These  we  have  traced  ;  many,  perhaps 
all  others,  were  of  the  same  blood,  but  the  proof  has  not  come  to  us, 
though  asked  for  again  and  again. 

We  ought  to  mention  that  pure  man,  Mr.  Sommerville,  cashier 
of  the  bank  at  Nashville,  by  whose  indomitable  energy  the  mouey  was 
raised  that  enabled  General  Carrol  to  reach  New  Orleans  at  the  crit 
ical  moment  for  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  where  Jackson,  with  two 
Scotch-Irish  general  officers  and  an  army  of  like  blood,  won  deathless 
fame.  The  world  has  kept  the  name  of  the  warrior,  but  allowed  to 


SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   TENNESSEE.  165 

be  almost  forgotten  the  name  of  the  quiet  patriot  who  "  handled  mill 
ions,  but  died  poor." 

JAMES   K.    POLK. 

We  have  found  the  first  President  Tennessee  gave  to  the  United 
States  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  so  we  find  the  second,1  James  K.  Polk.  It 
is  said  by  a  historian  that  the  most  brilliant  career  of  any  man  in  the 
White  House  was  that  of  James  K.  Polk.  About  his  early  career 
gather  White,  Bell,  Cave  Johnson,  Catron,  and  the  great  Socratic 
lawyer,  John  Marshall,  of  Williamson  county.  They,  with  his  first 
opponent  for  governor  of  the  state,  Newton  Cannon,  were  of  the  same 
race.  In  this  canvass  the  latest  historian  of  Tennessee  says:  "Polk 
opened  the  campaign  on  his  side  by  an  address  to  the  people  of  Ten 
nessee  perhaps  the  ablest  political  document  which  appeared  in  this 
state  up  to  the  time  of  the  war." 

His  agency  in  adding  the  boundless  West  to  the  domain  of  the 
United  States  needs  no  eulogy  at  this  late  day.  Without  the  Pacific 
coast,  as  we  have  it,  the  United  States  would  have  been  one  of  the 
great  nations  of  the  world ;  with  it,  she  inevitably  must  hold  at  no 
distant  future  an  unrivaled  pre-eminence.  The  time  is  now  on  us 
when  the  world  must  realize  that  in  potency  we  can  be  classed  with 
no  other  nationality. 

In  the  Mexican  war  again  we  look  for  the  Tennessee  volunteers, 
and  in  addition  to  the  names  of  Trousdale  and  Campbell,  that  of  B.  F. 
Cheatham,  who  had  gone  as  captain  in  the  First,  when  that  regiment 
was  disbanded  at  the  close  of  the  year  for  which  it  was  enlisted,  raised 
another  regiment,  of  which  he  was  made  colonel.  Cheatharn  had  the 
blood  of  James  Robertson  in  his  veins.  He  proved  in  the  war  be 
tween  the  states  a  veritable  thunderbolt  of  war;  a  man  of  the  stauuch- 
est  integrity.  All  the  men  from  Tennessee  prominent  in  the  Mexican 
war  were  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  with,  perhaps,  the  exception  of  General 
Gideon  Pillow.  I  believe  him  to  be  of  the  same  blood,  from  his  relation 
to  Colonel  Wm.  Pillow,  of  whom  Ramsey  says:  "Among  other  emi 
grants  from  North  Carolina  to  Cumberland  was  the  father  of  William 
Pillow.  He  came  through  the  wilderness  with  the  guard  commanded 
by  Captain  Elijah  Robertson,  and  settled  four  miles  south  of  Nash 
ville,  at  Brown's  station.  The  son,  William  Pillow,  was  in  most  of 
the  expeditions  carried  on  against  the  Indians,  from  the  time  of  his 
arrival  in  the  country  to  the  close  of  the  Indian  war." 

He  was  the  hero  and  victor  of  Fort  Donelson  in  the  recent  war. 
He  has  never  been  accorded  his  due  for  his  brilliant  fighting  there. 
The  Mexican  war  showed  the  volunteer  spirit  of  Tennessee  undimmed. 


166  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

Ten  men  volunteered  their  services  for  one  accepted.  Phelan's  history 
thus  speaks  of  two  of  Tennessee's  soldiers  ia  this  war  : 

GENERAL   WILLIAM    TROUSDALE, 

whose  popular  sobriquet  was  the  "  War  Horse  of  Sumner  County,** 
was  born  September  23,  1790,  in  Orange  county,  North  Carolina,  and 
was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  In  1796,  his  father  removed  with  him  to 
Davidson  county,  Tennessee.  When  a  boy  at  school  he  had  joined 
the  expedition  against  the  Creek  Indians,  and  was  at  Tallahatchie  and 
Talladega.  During  the  Creek  war,  in  pursuance  of  some  duty,  he 
swam  the  Tennessee  river,  near  the  Muscle  Shoals,  being  on  horse 
back,  although  unable  to  swim  himself.  He  was  also  at  Pensacola  and 
New  Orleans  during  the  War  of  1812.  In  1835,  he  was  in  the  state 
senate,  and  in  1836  major-general  of  the  militia.  He  fought  through 
the  Seminole  war  of  1836.  In  1837,  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate 
for  Congress.  In  1840,  he  was  a  Van  Buren  elector.  He  fought 
through  the  Mexican  war  with  great  bravery,  and  was  twice  wounded 
at  Chapultepec.  He  was  made  brigadier-general  by  brevet  in  the 
United  States  army  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  that  en 
gagement.  Trousdale  was  a  man  of  sound  understanding  and  pure 
character,  and  intellectually  not  inferior  to  his  competitor.  He  was 
elected  by  a  majority  of  1,390. 

WM.    B.    CAMPBELL, 

who  opposed  Trousdale  in  the  next  gubernatorial  race,  was  descended 
from  a  line  of  distinguished  Revolutionary  heroes.  He  finished  his  ed 
ucation,  which  was  solid  and  liberal,  under  his  uncle,  Governor  David 
Campbell,  of  Virginia,  under  whose  supervision  he  studied  law. 
He  returned  to  Tennessee,  and  in  1829  was  elected  attorney-general. 
In  1836,  he  resigned  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  as  cap 
tain  entered  the  Florida  war,  through  which  he  fought  with  honor.  In 
1837,  he  defeated  General  Trousdale  for  Congress,  and  again  in  1839. 
In  1841,  he  was  elected  without  opposition.  He  fought  gallantly 
through  the  Mexican  war  as  colonel  of  the  First  Regiment,  whose 
desperate  bravery  won  for  it  the  sobriquet  of  "The  Bloody  First." 
Campbell  himself  led  the  charge  at  Monterey,  and  his  troops  hoisted 
the  first  flag  on  the  walls  of  the  Mexican  city.  This  was  perhaps  the 
most  brilliant  feat  of  arms  accomplished  during  the  war.  The  form 
of  Campbell's  command  to  charge,  "  Boys,  follow  me,"  became  his 
toric,  and  was  also  the  favorite  battle-cry  of  the  Whigs  during  the 
campaign  that  elected  him  governor.  In  1848,  he  was  elected  circuit 
judge  by  the  legislature,  and  in  1851  he  was  nominated  by  acclama- 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   TENNESSEE.  167 

tion  for  governor  by  the  Whigs.  Trousdale  and  Campbell  were  cast 
in  the  same  mold.  Both  were  men  of  pure  character,  of  high  pur 
pose,  of  stern  integrity,  possessing  sound  practical  sense,  without  bril 
liancy  of  parts  or  fluency  of  tongue,  and  both  were  conservative  and 
courageous.  "  Two  gamer  cocks,"  says  one  writer,  "  were  never  pitted 
against  each  other  in  a  canvass  for  governor." 

"  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  are  the  only  states  which  have  fur 
nished  more  names  that  stand  higher  on  the  national  roll  of  honor 
than  Tennessee.  Not  to  mention  Tennesseaus  who,  like  Tipton,  of  In 
diana  ;  Houston,  of  Texas;  Benton,  of  Missouri;  Garland  and  Sev- 
ier  and  Hindman,  of  Arkansas;  Claiborne,  of  Louisiana;  Henry 
Watterson,  of  Kentucky;  Sharkey  and  Yerger,  of  Mississippi ;  Gwin, 
of  California;  and  Admiral  Farragut,  have  attained  influence  and 
celebrity  either  local  or  national  in  other  states,  Tennessee  has  given 
the  national  government  a  number  of 

PRESIDENTS   AND   CABINET   OFFICERS 

entirely  out  of  proportion  to  its  wealth  and  population.  George  W. 
Campbell  was  secretary  of  the  treasury  under  Madison.  Andrew 
Jackson  was  President  from  1829  to  1837.  John  H.  Eaton  was  sec 
retary  of  war  under  Jackson.  Felix  Grundy  was  attorney-general 
under  Van  Buren.  John  Bell  was  secretary  of  war  under  Harrison 
and  Tyler.  Cave  Johnson  was  postmaster-general  under  Polk,  and 
Polk  himself  was  President  from  1845  to  1849.  Tennessee  has  fur 
nished  the  House  of  Representatives  two  speakers,  Bell  and  Polk,  and 
the  Senate  one  presiding  officer,  in  the  person  of  H.  L.  White,  in 
1832. 

"  In  addition  to  this,  Tennessee  has  had  two  unsuccessful  can 
didates  for  the  Vice-presidency,  James  K.  Polk,  in  1840,  and  A.  J. 
Donelson,  on  the  ticket  with  Fillmore,  in  1856,  and  two  unsuccessful 
candidates  for  the  Presidency,  H.  L.  White,  in  1836,  and  John  Bell, 
in  1860.  John  Catrou  was  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the  United 
States  from  1837  to  1865.  Joseph  Anderson  was  the  first  comptroller 
of  the  United  States,  from  1815  to  1836.  William  B.  Lewis  was  the 
second  auditor  from  1829  to  1845.  Daniel  Graham  was  register  of 
the  treasury  from  1847  to  1849,  and  A.  A.  Hall  from  1849  to  1851 
and  1853. 

"  In  addition  to  this,  Tennessee  has  furnished  innumerable 
representatives  to  the  diplomatic  service  abroad,  two  of  them, 
George  W.  Campbell  and  Neil  S.  Brown,  to  the  same  court — 
Russia." 

"  The  quaintest,  the  most  striking,  the  most  original  figure  in 


168  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

south-western  history  was  David  Crockett.  Brownlow,  the  fighting 
parson,  the  caustic  writer,  the  politician,  was  a  Tennessean — governor 
and  senator.  The  filibustering  expeditions,  just  preceding  the  war, 
were  full  of  romantic  episodes.  The  leading  figure  in  them  was 
William  Walker,  the  '  Grey-eyed  Man  of  Destiny,'  whose  exploits  in 
Nicarauga  for  a  time  attracted  the  gaze  of  Europe  and  America, 
and  whose  sad  and  tragic  fate  has  been  described  in  the  glowing  and 
sensuous  verses  of  Joaquin  Miller.  The  war  between  the  states 
brought  to  the  surface  many  men  of  strong  character  and  pronounced 
individuality,  but  the  most  brilliant,  the  most  original,  the  most  at 
tractive,  the  most  dashing  of  all,  was 

N.    B.    FORREST, 

a  Tennessean.  Joe  C.  Guild,  the  odd  wag  and  the  quaint  humorist, 
whose  memory  still  lives  in  the  traditions  of  the  story-teller  and  the 
anecdote-monger,  was  a  Tennessean.  Bailie  Peyton,  the  peripatetic 
politician  and  brilliant  orator,  was  a  Tennessean.  The  period  from 
1836  to  1860  was  an  era  of  great  men  and  great  orators.  The  style 
of  oratory  was  characteristic,  and  nearly  always  brilliant — full  of  fire 
and  gorgeous  flights  of  fancy  and  rhetorical  adornment.  Gus  Henry 
was  the  eagle  orator.  James  C.  Jones  was  a  figure  of  national  promi 
nence,  and  was  frequently  suggested  as  a  candidate  for  speaker.  M. 
P.  Gentry  was  a  leader  in  Congress,  and  an  orator  of  the  first  magni 
tude.  After  his  first  speech  in  Congress,  John  Quiucy  Adams,  who 
took  pleasure  in  observing  new  members  of  Congress,  declared  that 
he  was  '  the  greatest  natural  orator  in  Congress.'  Laudon  C.  Haynes, 
the  Confederate  senator,  was  also  noted  for  the  dazzling  brilliancy  of 
his  rhetoric."  The  Irish-Scotch  William  Walker,  here  mentioned,  was 
descended  from  the  McClellans,  a  family  whose  genealogy  is  traced 
back  through  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
North  Carolina  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  thence  to  Scotland  in  the 
twelfth  century,  where  they  held  noble  position.  To  the  same  fam 
ily  belongs  Prof.  A.  H.  Buchanan,  of  Cumberland  University.  The 
record  involves  many  of  the  best  familes  of  Lincoln  and  Giles  counties, 
and  of  North  Alabama.  It  will  be  filed  with  the  historical  papers. 

PRESBYTERIANS. 

We  turn  from  the  secular  to  the  religious,  and  in  as  compact 
manner  as  possible  give  the  place  of  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  in 
Tennessee ;  as  the  family  is  largely  represented  in  Tennessee,  I  begin 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  169 

with  Dr.  Witherspoon,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence.* 

Dr.  Caldwell,  of  North  Carolina,  first  president  of  the  State  Uni 
versity,  has  worthy  descendants  in  Tennessee.  The  family  honor  has 
been  maintained  in  the  worthy  representative  in  Congress  from  the 
Hermitage  district,  the  Hon.  Andrew  Caldwell.  Caruthers,  of  North 
Carolina,  has  a  large  progeny  in  Tennessee.  One  was  Judge  A. 
Caruthers,  founder  of  the  celebrated  law  school  of  Cumberland  Uni 
versity,  whose  influence  as  lawyer  and  Christian  has  gone  far  toward 
peopling  the  south-west  with  Christian  lawyers.  His  brother,  Judge 
Robert  L.  Caruthers,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  most  powerful  force 
in  giving  success  to  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  E.  B. 
Currie,  of  North  Carolina,  whose  descendants  have  held  distinguished 
places  in  Tennessee  history,  especially  in  the  postal  service.  Rev. 
Gideon  Blackburn  was  a  right  arm  of  power  to  General  Jackson 
through  all  the  struggles  of  the  early  settlement  of  Tennessee.  "  It 
is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  first  four  prominent  educators  of  Tennes 
see,  Doak,  Craighead,  Carrick,  and  Balch,  were  all  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  and  members  of  the  same  Presbytery.  The  Bible  and  the 
school-book  were  borne  together  across  the  Alleghanies  by  men  in 
whose  veins  flowed  the  blood  which  had  withstood  the  oppression  of 
three  centuries." 

That  America  should  have  owed  its  independence  at  the  era 
when  it  occurred,  to  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers,  and  foremost  among 
them  to 

THE    PRESBYTERIAN   PREACHERS, 

that  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  with  the  popularity 
and  decided  prestige  which  belonged  to  that  ministry,  with  the  edu 
cation  and  purity  of  life  which  was  theirs  in  so  eminent  a  degree, 
with  the  priority  of  occupancy,  that  they  should  have  been  so  quickly 
distanced  in  the  struggle  for  the  rescue  from  sin  and  vice  of  the 
hardy  . settlers  and  their  children  by  the  Methodist  preachers,  is  a 
matter  for  profound  study.  The-  Presbyterians  held,  as  pioneers  of 
liberty,  the  foremost  place  in  the  popular  mind  and  heart,  and  de 
served  the  place  they  held.  The  Methodist  preachers  came  out  of 
the  struggle  almost  without  a  single  laurel  of  freedom  on  their  br<>\vs, 
as  preachers  ;  as  men,  many  of  them  were  soldiers  before  they  became 
preachers.  The  government  of  America  had  been  fashioned  in  its 
fundamental  principles  after  the  pattern  set  them  by  the  Presby 
terian  Church. 


*  Omitted,  as  he  was  fully  represented  by  another  speaker. 


170  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Before  my  recent  studies,  I  had  given  to  Thomas  Jefferson  and" 
French  political  theories  credit  for  a  much  larger  share  in  our  govern 
mental  principles  and  forms  than  I  can  ever  do  again.  The  great 
principle  of  no  taxation  without  representation,  we  owe  to  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians.  For  the  insertion  of  the  constitutional  pro 
vision  against  the  union  of  church  and  state,  we  are  alike  indebted 
to  them.  With  all  this  debt  of  gratitude,  we  do  well  to  ask  why  has 
a  church  whose  government  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  gave  no  voice 
to  the  people  on  questions  of  taxation,  and  allowed  little  more  indi 
vidual  freedom  than  Jesuitism  itself,  so  surpassed  in  its  growth 
the  church  of  our  fathers?  Results  so  stupendous  as  these  are  not 
matters  of  chance.  This  is  neither  the  time  nor  place  to  discuss 
the  problem.  I  present  it  because  it  is  incumbent  on  some  future 
philosophic  Christian  historian  of  the  race  to  solve  it  for  the  world's 
good. 

Do  we  find  a  part  of  the  solution  the  following  ? 

Dr.  McDonald,  in  his  history  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  just  from  the  press,  says  : 

"The  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  which  has  been  so  wonder 
fully  conservative,  is  seriously  considering  the  propriety  of  changing 
its  standard  on  this  subject.  A  standing  committee  has  been  ap 
pointed  to  investigate  the  question.  A  long  circular  has  been  sent  out 
by  one  of  that  committee,  ably  advocating  the  change.  This  circular 
shows  that  the  ratio  of  increase  in  a  hundred  years  between  the  Pres 
byterian  and  Methodist  Churches  is  as  47  to  1051.  It  shows  that 
'  aptness  to  teach,'  which  is  a  Bible  qualification,  is  not  proved  by 
the  possession  of  a  college  diploma,  which  is  not.  Indeed,  there  is  no 
essential  connection  between  the  two." 

SCOTCH-IRISH   THREAD   IN  METHODISM. 

We  find  the  Scotch-Irish  represented  among  the  early  Methodist 
preachers  of  Tennessee,  by  Thomas  Logan  Douglass,  Hubbard 
Saunders,  who  married  a  daughter  of  General  Russell,  of  revolutionary 
fame,  whose  wife,  Madam  Russell,  was  a  sister  of  Patrick  Henry, 
James  Gwin,  chaplain,  adviser,  and  trusted  friend  of  General  Jackson,, 
at  some  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  his  stormy  career,  John  McGhee, 
who,  with  his  brother,  a  Presbyterian  preacher,  had  a  large  part  in  the 
revival  out  of  which  sprung  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church. 
Among  the  early  laymen  we  find  as  members  of  the  first  society  or 
ganized  at  Nashville,  General  James  Robertson  and  wife ;  a  little  later, 
Colonel  Robert  Weakley.  Among  the  earliest  converts  in  Sumner 
county,  Lindsay,  McNelly,  Crane,  the  Carrs,  Cages,  and  Douglass 


SCOTCH -IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  171 

family.  But  a  little  later,  Mrs.  Bowen,  who  was  another  daughter  of 
Geueral  Russell,  and  pronounced  by  general  Jackson  the  most  remark 
able  woman  he  ever  knew — her  place  of  prayer  and  devotional  read 
ing,  the  hollow  of  a  sycamore  tree,  I  have  seen,  the  interior  of  which 
she  had  liae-d  with  devotional  clippings,  prose  and  poetry. 

The  bishop,  who  had  most  to  do  in  planting  Methodism  in  Ten 
nessee,  Bishop  William  McKendree,  and  the  bishop  who  last  died  iu 
the  state,  Bishop  McTyeire,  were,  as  I  take  it,  both  Scotch-Irish. 
Their  names  and  places  of  birth  indicate  the  fact,  while  their  mental 
characteristics  are  markedly  of  the  racial  type.  Both  of  them  bold 
and  urgent  for  the  enfranchisement  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  church 
before  they  were  separated  from  the  mass  by  their  elevation  to  the 
episcopacy.  Bishop  McKendree,  before  he  came  under  the  personal 
influence  of  Asbury,  sympathized  greatly  with  O'Kelly  in  his  cry  for 
freedom  of  government,  a  cry  which  gave  birth  to  Protestant  Method 
ism. 

H.  N.  M'TYEIRE, 

Before  his  elevation,  was  the  resolute,  adroit,  persistent,  and  finally 
victorious  advocate  for  lay  representation  in  the  councils  of  the  church. 
Yet  when  clothed  with  the  episcopal  office,  they  were  both  as  promi 
nent  for  their  high  exercise  of  episcopal  prerogative  as  was  Jackson 
himself  in  the  presidential  chair,  or  in  the  roll  of  military  chieftain. 
Strenuous  for  liberty  when  under  authority,  stalwart  for  prerogative 
when  gifted  with  authority.  Of  the  men  most  marked  in  the  history 
of  Tennessee,  as  exerting  the  most  influential  and  long-continued  in 
fluence  over  the  destinies  of  Methodism,  we  have  John  B.  McFerrin 
and  David  R.  McAnally.  Dr.  McFerrin,  in  his  History  of  Methodism 
in  Tennessee,  speaking  of  Mr.  Craighead,  the  earliest  Presbyterian 
preacher,  says,  "Mr.  Craighead  was  a  man  of  learning,  and  long 
lived  at  his  first  residence  in  the  state,  and  devoted  most  of  his  time 
to  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  country.  In  this  field  he  was 
very  useful,  and,  as  an  educator,  left  a  noble  reputation.  As  a 
preacher  he  was  formal,  and  somewhat  eccentric,  but  he  has  left  be 
hind  him  the  savor  of  a  good  name." 

It  can  be  little  doubted  that  had  Craighead  been  writing  of  Mc- 
Ferriu,  he  would  have  written  "A  strong  man,  gifted  with  power  to 
sway  the  masses,  but  as  a  preacher,  of  marked  eccentricity."  Most  of 
men  who  make  the  age  feel  them,  and  who  leave  behind  them  a  dis 
tinct  impress,  are  written  down  by  the  many  as  eccentric. 

JOHN    NEWLAND   MAFFET, 

From  the  North  of  Ireland,  the  wonderful  orator  who  swept  like  a 


172  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

comet  over  the  Union,  followed  by  vast  crowds,  was  for  a  time  a 
resident  of  Nashville,  and  pastor  of  the  leading  Methodist  church. 
Philip  Neely,  perhaps  the  most  eloquent  of  Tennessee's  many  eloquent 
men.  was  Scotch-Irish.  F.  E.  Pitts,  who  rivaled  Whitfield  in  his 
power  to  move  masses,  was  of  Scotch-Irish  blood.  Jesse  Cunningham, 
a  preacher  of  East  Tennessee,  whose  son,  Rev.  W.  G.  E.  Cunning 
ham,  has  won  high  position  in  Methodism,  claims  our  notice,  as  well 
as  Peter  Cartwright  and  James  Axley.  Dr.  McFerrin,  in  his  Method 
ism  in  Tennessee,  thus  characterizes  a  band  of  Scotch-Irish  preachers. 
"  The  pathos  of  Massie  and  Lee,  the  logic  of  McHenry  and  Burke, 
the  polemical  power  of  Page  and  Garrett,  the  zeal  and  piety  of 
Walker  and  Lakin,  the  unction  and  poetry  of  Wilkerson  and  Gwin, 
the  thundering  and  lightning  of  McGee  and  Granade,  and  the  fine 
talents  and  noble  bearing  of  McKendree  and  Blackman,  drew  the 
multitudes  to  Methodist  meetings,  and  brought  thousands  of  the  best 
people  of  the  land  into  the  church.  And  these  men  of  God  went  into 
the  hovels  of  the  poor  and  sought  the  halt  and  blind,  the  maimed  and 
the  distressed,  preached  to  them  Jesus  and  the  resurrection,  and  won 
multitudes  to  the  cross  of  Christ." 

CUMBERLAND   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  OR  THE   IRISH-SCOTCH    CHURCH. 

This  church  is  the  child  of  the  Irish-Scotch  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  As  the  race  itself  is  the  synthesis  of  two  races,  the  birth 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  the  analysis  of  the  two 
races  which  reappear,  the  Scotch  blood  as  Presbyterian,  the  Irish  as 
Cumberland.  The  one  true  to  its  logic,  the  other  striding  along  across 
all  logical  paths  as  enthusiasm  may  lead.  Each  is  a  source  of  honor 
to  the  other,  and,  a  second  synthesis  would  be  a  blessing  to  our  land, 
the  chief  religious  curse  of  which  is  the  multiplication  of  sects.  The 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  has  abounded  in  energy,  which  has 
produced  large  results. 

A  very  characteristic  statement  of  the  standpoint  of  its  origin  is 
given  in  "  McDonald's  History,"  page  100. 

"  We  have  far  more  confidence  in  a  system  of  theology  growing 
out  of  a  revival  than  in  a  system  made  by  scholastics  writing  in  the 
midst  of  their  books  and  aiming  at  logical  consistency." 

Let  us  see  the  revival  as  it  appears  in  history.* 

The  re-awaking  Christian  energy  which  ushered  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  which  introduced  a  new  method  of  spiritual  propagand- 
ism  and  enlightenment  into  American  Christianity,  was  due  to  a  man 

*  Phelan. 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   TENNESSEE.  17-'5 

whose  name  has  almost  been  forgotten  by  the  great  body  of  the  peo 
ple.  This  was  James  M'Gready,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  of 
Scotch-Irish  parents.  Wheu  young,  he  was  removed  to  North  Caro 
lina,  and  was  under  the  pastorate  of  John  Caldwell.  He  was,  as  a 
boy,  of  a  naturally  grave  and  serious  disposition,  and  was  early  des 
tined  for  the  ministry.  He  thought  himself  devout  and  a  true  Chris 
tian.  But  he  accidentally  overheard  a  remark  made  by  one  whom 
he  respected,  that  he  had  not  a  spark  of  religion  in  'his  heart.  He 
was  aggrieved  and  surprised.  He  thought  over  what  he  had  heard. 
Light  began  to  dawn  upon  him.  Returning  to  North  Carolina,  he 
commenced  preaching  in  earnest.  In  1790,  he  married,  and  took 
charge  of  a  church  in  Orange  county.  He  was  accused  of  "  running 
people  distracted,  diverting  their  attention  from  the  necessary  avoca 
tions  of  life,  and  creating  unnecessary  alarm  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  were  decent  and  orderly  in  their  lives."  A  letter  written  in 
blood  ordered  him  to  leave  the  country.  His  church  was  attacked. 
His  pulpit  was  set  on  fire.  In  1796,  he  removed  to  Kentucky.  Here 
he  took  charge  of  three  congregations  in  Logan  county — Gasper  river, 
Red  river,  and  Muddy  river.  He  infused  new  life  into  them.  The 
people  were  aroused.  His  reputation  spread.  His  influence  grew. 
People  came  miles  and  miles  to  hear  him.  The  walls  of  sectarianism 
were  thrown  down.  He  joined  with  Methodists  in  the  work  of  reviv 
ing  the  love  of  Christ.  William  M'Gee,  a  Presbyterian,  was  located 
first  at  Shiloh,  near  Gallatin,  Tennessee,  then  on  Drake's  creek,  in 
Stunner  county.  His  brother,  John  M'Gee,  was  a  Methodist.  In 
June,  1800,  the  two  brothers  assisted  M'Gready  at  the  Red  river  meet 
ing-house,  where  the  great  revival  fully  developed  itself.  The  crowd 
was  enormous,  and  many  were  compelled  to  sleep  in  the  open  air  un 
der  the  trees.  It  was  noticed  that  some  had  brought  tents  and  fond. 
This  suggested  the  idea  of  a  camp-meeting.  The  next  month, 

THE   FIRST   CAMP-MEETING 

the  world  had  ever  seen  was  held  at  Gasper  river  church,  in  Logan 
county,  Kentucky.  The  spirit  spread  wider  and  wider,  farther  and 
farther.  A  peculiar  physical  manifestation  accompanied  these  re 
vivals,  popularly  known  as  the  "jerks."  They  were  involuntary  and 
irresistible.  When  under  their  influence,  the  sufferers  would  dance, 
or  sing,  or  shout.  Sometimes  they  would  sway  from  side  to  side,  or 
throw  the  head  backward  and  forward,  or  leap,  or  spring.  Generally, 
those  under  the  influence  would,  at  the  end,  fall  upon  the  ground  and 
remain  rigid  for  hours,  and  sometimes  whole  multitudes  would  become 
dumb  and  fall  prostrate.  As  the  swoon  passed  away,  the  sufferer 


174  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

would  weep  piteously,  moan,  and  sob.  After  a  while,  the  gloom  would 
lift,  a  smile  of  heavenly  peace  would  radiate  the  countenance,  and 
words  of  joy  and  rapture  would  break  forth,  and  conversion  always 
followed.  Even  the  most  skeptical,  even  the  scoffers  who  visited  these 
meetings  for  the  purpose  of  showing  their  hardihood,  would  be  taken 
in  this  way.  As  the  inspiration  spread,  the 

DEMAND    FOR   NEW   PREACHERS 

was  greater  than  the  church  could  supply.  In  this  demand  the  Cum 
berland  Church  had  its  origin.  David  Rice,  the  leading  member  of 
the  Transylvania  Presbytery,  visited  the  Cumberland  country.  Con 
vinced  that  the  revivals  were  doing  great  good,  and  appreciating  the 
lack  of  preachers,  he  suggested  that  laymen  possessing  the  proper 
qualifications  for  carrying  on  the  work  should  be  selected  to  apply  for 
membership  in  the  Presbytery.  Alexander  Anderson,  Finis  Ewing, 
and  Samuel  King  applied,  and  were  licensed  to  exhort. 

Of  Scotch-Irish  we  have  marked  these  as  prominent  in  the  early 
days  of  this  church :  Robert  Donnel,  Thos.  Calhoun,T.  C.  Anderson, 
J.  M.  McMurray.  This  church  has  come  to  number  150,000. 

ALEXANDER    CAMPBELL — THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    CHURCH. 

So  large  a  place  has  been  gained  by  the  followers  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Alexander  Campbell  in  Tennessee,  and  he  was  himself  so  often 
here,  that  no  sketch  of  the  religions  of  the  race  would  be  complete 
without  reference  to  him.  A  man  who  was  bold  enough  to  attempt 
to  reform,  and  in  most  of  what  he  taught  reverse  the  theology  of  the 
ages,  who  fought  his  way  single-handed  and  alone,  who  resorted  to 
no  appeals  to  the  passions,  who  was  the  death  of  enthusiasm,  and 
sought  his  conquests  alone  by  the  force  of  logic,  arrests  the  pen  of 
history  while  he  claims  rightful  place.  He  stands  uniquely  apart 
from  the  religious  reformers  of  the  world  as  history  has  given  them 
to  us.  His  success,  which  has  been  as  marked  as  his  courage  was 
dauntless,  demands  for  him  a  foremost  place  among  the  celebrated  men 
of  the  race.  John  C.  Calhoun,  perhaps,  of  all  the  race,  is  his  peer 
in  analytical  powers,  in  persistence  in  unfaltering  adherence  to  the  re 
sults  of  logic  without  giving  place  to  either  passion  or  expediency. 
He  belongs  to  the  same  Scotch-Irish  family  before  referred  to,  was 
brought  up  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  trained  in  the  theology  of 
the  schools.  He  came  on  the  scene  of  action  just  as  the  reverse  tide 
began  to  set  in  after  the  great  excitement  and  religious  furor  of  the 
early  part  of  this  century.  His  movement  has  been  improperly  called  a 
reformation  ;  it  was,  in  doctrine,  methods,  and  purposes,  a  rebellion. 


SCOTCH-IRISH    OF    TENNESSEE.  175 

The  creeds  of  Presbyterian isra,  the  revivals  of  Methodists,  Bap 
tists,  and  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  were  attacked  with  a  persist 
ency  that  knew  no  abatement.  He  had  some  grounds  for  his  points 
of  attack.  Protestantism  had  gone  much  too  far  along  the  line  of 
credal  infallibility,  while  many  of  the  churches  of  Kentucky  and  Ten 
nessee  had  narrowed  down  evangelical  methods  to  one,  "  the  mourn 
ers'  bench  or  anxious  seat,"  the  evidences  of  conversion  had  practically 
become  the  measure  of  the  emotions.  It  has  taken  Alexander  Camp 
bell  and  his  followers  a  half  century  to  draw  the  old  churches  out  of 
the  pent-up  Utica,  into  which  reverence  for  misplaced  creeds  on  the 
one  hand,  and  exaggeration  of  emotion  on  the  other,  had  drifted  them. 
The  evidences  of  the  good  accomplished  by  him  along  these  lines  in 
the  life  and  action  of  the  churches  is  becoming  every  day  more  ap 
parent.  When  Christendom  comes  to 

% 

VALUE   CREEDS    AS   MILE-STONES 

to  mark  progress,  instead  of  anchors  to  forbid  further  movement,  the 
followers  of  Alexander  Campbell  may  be  able  to  meet  us  half  way, 
and  allow  that  creeds  have  a  rightful  place.  Whether  they  do  or  not, 
the  age  owes  to  Alexander  Campbell  a  debt  larger,  perhaps,  than  to 
any  other  one  man  of  the  pulpit  of  the  century,  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
excepted. 

Beecher  denounced  the  binding  nature  of  creeds  as  fearlessly  as 
did  Alexander  Campbell,  but  never  was  narrow  enough  in  his  intensity 
to  be  blinded  to  the  fact  that  it  was  the  abuse,  not  the  use  of  creeds 
that  had  so  damned  up  Christian  growth. 

The  Scotch-Irish  stick-to-right  exaltation  of  minor  points  into 
fundamental  principles,  the  contentious  character  of  the  race,  has  no 
better  example  than  in  Alexander  Campbell  and  his  followers.  His 
refusal  of  all  creeds,  his  abandonment  of  all  established  forms  of  gov 
ernment,  was  carrying  to  its  extreme  logical  results  the  central  prin 
ciples  of  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterianism.  Taking  the  Bible  as  in 
terpreted  by  every  individual  as  the  only  source  of  right  belief  and 
action,  his  Scotch-Irish  blood  at  once  .goes  forward  along  its  hereditary 
tendencies  to  construe  a  book  full  of  tropes,  figures,  and  parables  redo 
lent  of  lofty  imagery,  by  the  literalism  of  the  unimaginative  Scotch 
metaphysics,  resulting  in  the  narrowest  of  possible  structures  on  the 
broadest  of  foundations.  Yet  so  just  were  many  of  his  criticisms  on 
the  credal  and  emotional  religions  of  his  day,  so  welcome  was  his 
doctrine  of  equal  rights  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  to  all  members,  so 
attractive  has  been  the  field  for  activity  presented  to  laymen,  that, 


176  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

measured  by  the  number  of  bis  followers,  be  stauds  unrivaled  in  the 
history  of  the  religious  movements  of  the  world. 

A  prophecy  is  on  my  lips,  but  I  repress  it.  A  single  suggestion  I 
make.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  exaltation  of  a  symbol  into  the  place 
of  a  vital  power  by  a  faulty  literalism,  had  it  not  been  for  the  narrow 
refusal  to  utilize  such  helps  of  government  as  Christian  enlightenment 
has  approved,  not  as  essentials,  but  as  convenient  scaffolding,  their 
success  would  have  been  as  the  torrent  compared  with  the  wave-like 
growth  of  their  history. 

The  following  from  Mr.  Campbell  shows  his  standpoint  in  contrast 
to  that  given  by  McDonald  as  characteristic  of  Cumberland  Presby^ 
terian  church : 

"What  I  am  in  religion,  I  am  from  examination,  reflection,  con 
viction,  not  from  ipse  dixit,  tradition,  or  human  authority;  and,  hav 
ing  halted  and  faltered  and  stumbled,  I  have  explored  every  inch  of 
the  way  hitherto.  Though  my  father  and  I  accord  in  sentiment, 
neither  of  us  are  dictators  or  imatators.  Neither  of  us  lead  ;  neither 
of  us  follow."  * 

This,  with  the  whole  history  of  this  church,  so  vividly  recalls  Par- 
ton's  picture  of  Scotch-Irish  character  in  his  life  of  Jackson,  that  we 
call  attention  to  it  in  closing. 

"  One  trait  in  the  character  of  these  people  demands  the  particu 
lar  attention  of  the  reader.  It  is  their  nature  to  contend  for  what  they 
think  is  right  with  peculiar  earnestness.  Some  of  them,  too,  have  a 
knack  of  extracting  from  every  affair  in  which  they  may  engage,  and 
from  every  relation  in  life  which  they  form,  the  very  largest  amount 
of  contention  which  it  can  be  made  to  yield.  Hot  water  would  seem 
to  be  the  natural  element  of  some  of  them,  for  they  are  always  in  it. 
It  appears  to  be  more  difficult  for  a  North  of  Irelander  than  for  other 
men  to  allow  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  in  an  opponent ;  so  that 
he  is  apt  to  regard  the  terms 

OPPONENT   AND   ENEMY 

As  synonymous.  Hence,  in  the  political  and  sectarian -contests  of  the 
present  day,  he  occasionally  exhibits  a  narrowness,  if  not  ferocity  of 
spirit,  such  as  his  forefathers  manifested  in  the  old  wars  of  the  clans 
and  the  borders,  or  in  the  later  strifes  between  Catholic  and  Protestant." 
It  is  strange  that  so  kind  and  generous  a  people  should  be  so  fierce  in 
contention.  "  Their  factions,"  says  Sir  Walter  Scott,  speaking  of  the 

*  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  pp.  466,  467.     [Letter  to  his  uncle  in 
Ireland.] 


SCOTCH-IRISH   OF  TENNESSEE.  177 

Irish  generally,  "  have  been  so  long  envenomed,  and  they  have  such  a 
narrow  ground  to  do  their  battle  in,  that  they  are  like  people  fighting 
with  daggers  in  a  hogshead."  And  these  very  people,  apart  frjotn 
their  strifes,  are  singularly  tender  in  their  feelings,  liberal  in  gifts  and 
hospitality,  and  most  easy  to  be  entreated.  On  great  questions,  too, 
which  lift  the  mind  above  sectarian  trivialities,  they  will,  as  a  people, 
be  invariably  found  on  the  anti-diabolic  side :  equally  strenuous  for 
liberty  and  for  law,  against  "  mobs  and  monarchs,  lords  and  levelers," 
as  one  of  their  own  stump  orators  expressed  it.  The  name  which  Bul- 
wer  bestows  upon  one  of  his  characters,  Stick-to-rights,  describes  every 
genuine  son  of  Ulster.  Among  the  men  of  North  of  Ireland  stock, 
whose  names  are  familiar  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  the  fol 
lowing  may  serve  to  illustrate  some  of  the  foregoing  remarks  :  John 
Stark,  Robert  Fulton,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Sam  Houston,  David  Crock 
ett,  Hugh  L.  White,  James  K.  Polk,  Patrick  Bronte,  Horace  Greely, 
Robert  Bonner,  A.  T.  Stewart,  Andrew  Jackson,  Thomas  Benton, 
James  G.  Elaine,  Judge  Jervis  Black. 

Judging  by  the  ocean-like  roll  of  his  heart,  I  am  inclined  to  add 
to  these  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  am  much  disposed  to  be 
lieve  that  the  sturdy  honesty  of  Grover  Cleveland  springs  from  the 
same  source. 
12 


178  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMEKICA. 


SCOTCH-IRISH    ACHIEVEMENT. 

BY   COLONEL   A.   K.    M'CLURE,    OF   PHILADELPHIA. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — You  have  had  very  excellent  samples  of 
the  oratory  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  and  I  am  not  here  to  deliver  an  ora 
tion,  but  1  will  give  you  a  recess  from  Scotch-Irish  oratory,  by  devot 
ing  a  short  space  of  the  evening  to  a  confidential  conversation  about 
our  distinguished  race.  The  trouble  with  me  is  to  know  where  to  be 
gin.  If  you  are  asked,  Where  have  the  Scotch-Irish  been,  and 
where  are  they  now  ?  the  answer  is,  Where  have  they  not  been,  and 
where  are  they  not?  If  you  are  asked  what  they  have  done,  the  an 
swer  of  every  intelligent  citizen  must  be,  What  have  they  not  done? 
If  you  ask  what  distinguished  places  of  trust  and  power  they  have 
filled,  the  logical  answer  is,  What  place  is  there,  in  civil,  military,  or 
religious  authority,  that  they  have  not  filled?  To  speak  of  such  a 
race,  is  to  speak  of  the  history  of  the  past  achievements  of  our  land  ; 
and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  people  whose  history  is  written  in 
every  annal  of  achievement  in  our  land,  is  without  a  written  history. 
There  is  not  a  single  connected  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish  in  Amer 
ican  literature,  and  there  is  not  a  history  of  any  other  people  written 
in  truth  that  does  not  tell  of  Scotch-Irish  achievement.  If  you  were 
to  spend  an  evening  in  a  New  England  library,  you  would  find  not 
only  scores,  but  hundreds  of  volumes,  telling  of  Puritan  deeds ;  and  if 
you  were  to  study  them,  the  natural  inference  would  be  that  the  only 
people  that  have  existed  and  achieved  any  thing  in  this  land  were 
the  Puritans.  They  have  not  only  written  every  thing  that  they  have 
done,  but  they  have  written  more  than  they  have  done.  The  story 
that  they  generally  omit  is  their  wonderful  achievement  in  the  burning 
of  witches.  There  is  a  complete  history  of  the  Quakers.  You  find  it  in 
connected  form  in  almost  every  library  of  any  city.  There  is  a  complete 
history  of  the  Huguenots  who  settled  in  Carolina,  and  there  is  a  con 
nected  history  of  every  people  of  our  land,  save  the  one  people  whose 
deeds  have  made  the  history  of  this  country  the  most  lustrous  of  all. 
It  is  true,  that  those  who  write  their  history  in  deeds  have  least  need 
of  history  in  the  records  of  our  literature,  but  the  time  has  come  in 
this  land  when  the  Scotch-Irish  owe  it  to  themselves,  and  owe  it 
especially  to  their  children,  who  are  now  scattered  from  eastern  to 
western  sea,  and  from  northern  lake  to  southern  gulf,  that  those  who 


SCOTCH-IRISH   ACHIEVEMENT.  179 

come  after  us  shall  learn  not  only  that  their  ancestors  have  been  fore 
most  iu  achievement,  but  that  their  deeds  have  been  made  notable  in 
history ,  as  they  were  in  the  actions  of  men.  Some  of  our  more  thought 
ful  historians  or  students  of  history  will  pretend  to  tell  you  when  the 
Scotch-Irish  race  began.  I  haven't  heard  even  our  Scotch-Irishmen 
who  have  studied  the  question  do  the  subject  justice.  No  such  race  of 
men  could  be  created  in  a  generation  ;  no  such  achievements  could  be 
born  in  a  century.  No  such  people  as  the  Scotch-Irish  could  be  com 
pleted  even  in  century  after  century  ;  and  while  you  are  told  that  the 
Scotch-Irish  go  back  in  their  achievements  to  the  days  of  John  Kn<>x, 
John  Kuox  lived  a  thousand  years  after  the  formation  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  character  began.  He  was  like  the  stream  of  your  western 
desert,  that  comes  from  the  mountains  and  makes  the  valleys  beauti 
ful,  and  green,  and  fragrant,  and  then  is  lost  in  the  sands  of  the 
desert.  Men  will  tell  you  that  it  disappears  and  is  lost.  It  is  not. 
After  traversing  perhaps  hundreds  of  miles  of  subterranean  passages, 
forgotten,  unseen,  it  is  still  doing  its  work,  and  it  rises  again  before 
it  reaches  the  sea,  and  again  makes  new  fields  green,  and  beautiful, 
and  bountiful.  It  required  more  than  a  thousand  years  to  perfect  the 
Scotch-Irish  character.  It  is  of  a  creation  single  from  all  races  of 
mankind,  and  a  creation  not  of  one  people  nor  of  one  century,  nor 
even  five  centuries,  but  a  thousand  years  of  mingled  effort  and  sac 
rifice,  ending  in  the  sieges  of  Derry,  were  required  to  present  to  the 
world  the  perfect  Scotch-Irish  character.  If  you  would  learn  when 
the  characteristics  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  began,  go  back  a  thousand 
years  beyond  the  time  of  John  Knox,  and  find  that  there  was  a  crucial 
test  that  formed  the  men  who  perfected  the  Scotch-Irish  character, 
after  years  and  years  of  varying  conflict  and  success,  until  the  most 
stubborn,  the  most  progressive,  the  most  aggressive  race  iu  achievement, 
was  given  to  the  world.  Let  us  go  back  to  the  sixth  century,  and 
what  do  we  find?  We  find  Ireland  the  birth-place  of  the  Scotch-Irish. 
We  find  Ireland  foremost  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  not  only  in 
religious  progress,  but  in  literature,  and  for  two  centuries  thereafter 
the  teacher  of  the  world  iu  all  that  made  men  great  and  achieve 
ments  memorable.  For  two  centuries  the  Irish  of  Ireland,  in  their 
own  green  land,  were  the  teachers  of  men,  not  only  in  religion,  but 
iu  science,  iu  learning,  and  all  that  made  men  great.  She  had  her 
teachers  aud  her  scientists,  men  who  filled  her  pulpits  and  went  to 
every  nation  surrounding ;  and  it  was  there  that  the  Scotch-Irish  char 
acter  had  its  foundation  ;  it  was  there  that  the  characteristics  became 
evident  which  afterward  made  them  felt  wherever  they  have  gone. 
Those  Irish  were  teachers  of  religion,  and  yet  as  stubborn  for  religious 


180  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

freedom  as  were  the  Scotch-Irish.  Catholic,  they  often  refused 
obedience  to  the  Pope.  They  were  men  of  conviction ;  they  were 
men  of  learning.  They  were  the  advanced  outposts  of  the  progressive 
civilization  of  that  day,  and  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  their  faith,  down 
deep-set  in  the  heart,  was  absolute  religious  freedom,  and  they  even 
combated  the  Vatican  in  maintaining  their  religious  rights. 

Then  came  the  cloud  that  swept  over  the  laud,  and  that  effaced 
this  bright  green  spot  from  existence.  Then  came  the  barbarian  from 
the  isles  of  the  Baltic.  He  came  with  the  torch  of  the  vandal  and 
all  the  fiendishness  of  a  barbarian,  desolated  the  land,  destroyed  its 
prosperity,  overthrew  its  minsters,  razed  its  churches  to  the  earth,  and 
from  that  once  bright  green  isle  a  land  of  desolation  was  made. 
The  Irish  of  that  day  were  not  to  be  conquered  in  a  generation  ;  nay, 
not  in  a  century.  It  was  only  after  two  centuries  of  desperate,  bloody 
conflict,  of  sacrifice  such  as  men  to-day  know  not,  that  finally  they 
were  almost  effaced  from  the  earth.  But  it  was  like  the  stream  that 
comes  from  the  great  mountains  of  the  West,  that  had  made  the  val 
leys  beautiful  which  it  had  traversed,  and  then  disappeared  in  the 
desert.  The  work  of  these  men  had  perished  and  been  overthrown 
for  the  time  being,  but  their  teachings  were  eternal,  and  they  are  as 
much  impressed  upon  this  audience  now  as  they  were  twelve  hundred 
years  ago  in  Ireland.  Then  history  tells  how  the  province  was  finally 
laid  waste,  and,  how,  when  it  had  ceased,  by  reason  of  its  desolation, 
to  invite  any  to  it,  the  Scotch-Irish  were  invited  to  come  to  Ulster, 
and  how  there  was  literally  founded  the  great  people  whose  history 
and  whose  achievements  we  celebrate  now.  They  had  undergone  per 
secution  from  King  and  Pope.  Not  until  Pope  Adrian  and  King 
Henry,  Protestant  upon  the  one  side  and  Catholic  upon  the  other,  had 
united  their  arms,  their  schemes,  and  their  statesmanship,  was  the 
land  laid  waste  so  that  the  Scots  alone  could  rebuild  the  destruction 
which  had  been  wrought.  So  great  was  the  desolation,  that  prelates 
denounced  Catholicism  one  day,  and  again  praised  it ;  the  teachers  at 
the  holy  altar  abjured  Catholicism  to  Mary  and  Protestantism  to 
Henry.  The  church  and  state  reeked  with  corruption.  When  there 
was  universal  demoralization,  even  at  the  very  altar  of  the  holies,  then 
the  Scots  went  to  Ireland  and  settled  in  the  province  of  Ulster,  where 
the  history  of  the  race  properly  begins.  They  made  the  laud  again  to 
bloom  and  blossom,  and  upon  every  hand  was  brightness  and  pros 
perity.  They  called  a  convocation  of  their  clergy,  and  proclaimed 
their  profession  of  faith,  the  same  that  you  would  proclaim  at  your 
altar  to-night;  and  it  seemed,  at  last,  as  though  the  angel  of  peace 
had  visited  the  land,  and  that  now  there  should  be  freedom  to  worship 


SCOTCH-IRISH   ACHIEVEMENT.  181 

at  the  altar  of  their  choice;  that  improvement,  mental,  social,  relig 
ious,  and  material,  should  go  hand  in  hand  again,  and  that  Ireland 
should  become  a  place  of  plenty  and  of  happiness.  But  scarcely  had 
they  established  themselves,  and  proclaimed  their  faith,  and  restored 
prosperity  for  the  desolation  that  they  had  found,  when  persecution 
again  came,  with  the  power  of  Church  and  State.  These  people  were 
persecuted  at  their  altars,  in  their  homes,  in  their  business,  in  all 
things;  they  were  condemned  as  felons,  and  compelled  to  flee  from 
their  land.  After  a  ceutury  of  conflict  such  as  we  know  not  now, 
maintaining  their  altars  and  their  homes  and  their  rights,  they  seemed 
again  to  have  been  scattered  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  Again 
the  bright  mountain  stream  of  education,  religion,  progress,  and  ad 
vancement  seemed  to  have  been  swallowed  up  by  the  desert  in  utter 
hopelessness.  It  was  then  that  John  Knox  came,  and  came  as  the 
long-concealed  sweet  waters  from  the  fountain  of  religion  and  of  edu 
cation,  having  long  been  swallowed  up  by  the  desert  of  desolation  and 
persecution,  in  all  their  splendor,  pure  as  crystal,  pure  as  heaven. 
Again  the  people  were  taught  that  the  religion  and  the  education  of  a 
thousand  years  before  had  not  been  lost ;  that  there  was  one  character 
of  men,  and  one  alone,  in  which  was  preserved  eternally  the  truths 
of  progress,  of  freedom,  of  religion  ;  and  finally,  after  conflict  upon 
conflict,  and  sacrifice  upon  sacrifice,  these  men  presented  what  I  regard 
as  the  perfected  Scotch-Irish  character.  At  the  siege  of  Londonderry, 
after  twelve  hundred  years  of  education  and  teaching,  and  utter  pros 
tration  under  persecution  of  all  the  power  of  Church  and  State  to 
destroy,  the  perfect  Scotch-Irish  character  was  presented  to  the 
world ;  and  I  thank  the  siege  of  Londonderry,  because  it  was  that 
which  sent  them  to  the  new  world.  Then  they  came  fleeing  from 
home,  from  all  which  they  loved,  to  the  new  world,  as  teachers  of  the 
inalienable  rights  of  man  to  worship  the  living  God  as  he  shall  choose, 
and  maintain  civil  freedom  as  the  highest  right  of  God's  created 
beings.  They  came,  and  they  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Carolinas, 
and  Virginia ;  and  it  was  the  Scotch-Irish  people  of  the  colonies  that 
made  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  Without  them,  it 
could  not  have  been  thought  of,  except  as  a  passing  fancy.  When 
the  New  England  Puritan  and  the  Virginia  mixture  of  the  cavalier 
and  Scotch-Irishman  sat  side  by  side,  and  presented  to  the  memorable 
Congress  of  Philadelphia  the  immortal  document  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  they  did  not  voice  the  views  or  convictions  of 
Thomas  Jeflforson  or  John  Adams ;  they  voiced  the  teachings  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  people  of  the  laud.  They  did  not  falter,  they  did  not 
dissemble,  they  did  not  temporize,  when  a  foreign  government  became 


182  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

oppressive  beyond  endurance.  It  was  not  the  Quaker,  not  the  Puri* 
tan,  nor  even  the  Cavalier  nor  the  Huguenot  nor  the  German  ;  it  was 
the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  land  whose  voice  was  first  heard  in  Virginia. 
In  the  valley  of  Virginia  was  the  first  declaration  of  independence; 
not  a  formal  declaration,  but  it  was  there  that,  the  smothered  feelings 
of  these  people  were  first  declared.  Next,  in  North  Carolina,  at 
Mecklenburg,  came  the  declaration  of  independence  in  form,  arid  from 
the  Scotch-Irish  of  that  region.  Next  came  the  declaration  of  my 
own  state,  at  Carlisle,  Pa.  There  was  the  declaration  made  by  the 
Scotch-Irish,  that  the  colonies  must  be  free  from  the  oppressive  hand 
of  Britain.  They  had  taught  this,  not  only  in  their  public  speeches, 
they  had  taught  it  at  their  altars,  from  their  pulpits,  in  their  social  circle  ; 
it  was  taught  upon  the  mother's  lap  to  the  Scotch-Irish  child  ;  and  it 
was  from  these,  and  these  alone,  that  came  the  outburst  of  rugged, 
determined  people  that  made  the  declaration  of  1776  possible.  They, 
and  they  alone,  were  its  authors,  and  when  they  made  a  declaration, 
they  meant  to  maintain  it  by  all  the  moral  and  physical  power  they 
possessed.  When  a  deliverance  came  from  the  Scotch-Irish — when 
they  demanded  that  they  must  and  shall  be  free,  it  was  no  mere  diplo 
matic  declaration ;  it  was  no  claim  to  be  tested  and  disputed  and  be 
recalled  in  season.  When  the  Scotch-Irish  of  this  land  declared  that 
the  American  colonies  should  be  free,  it  meant  that  the  Scotch-Irish 
blood  was  ready  to  flow  upon  the  battle-field,  that  the  Scotch-Irish  arro 
ws  ready  to  wield  the  battle-ax,  and  that,  come  weal  or  woe,  they 
meant  to  maintain  the  declaration  with  their  lives.  (Applause.) 

I  wish  the  truthful  history  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
had  been  written.  It  has  not  been  done,  and  I  am  sorry  that  it  will 
never  be  written,  for  the  reason  that  it  now  can  not  be  done.  I  wish 
that  some  other  people,  some  other  race  than  mine,  had  been  in  a  po 
sition  to  write  the  true  history  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
The  Scotch-Irish  can  not  write  it,  because  in  the  writing  they  would 
make  themselves  immortal.  There  is  no  passage  in  history  that  tells 
you  that,  after  the  passage  of  this  declaration  by  the  Congress  of  the 
colonies  at  Philadelphia,  two  of  Pennsylvania's  representatives  were 
recalled  and  retired  for  disobedience  to  the  will  of  the  people,  and  new 
men  sent  to  complete  the  work.  Need  I  tell  you  that  these  men  were 
not  Scotch-Irish  ?  It  was,  perhaps,  well  for  young  American  students, 
that  they  have  not  by  history  been  told  how  the  Continental  Congress, 
even  after  passing  the  memorable  Declaration  of  Independence,  shiv 
ered  at  the  consummation  of  its  work;  how  men  shuddered  and  hesi 
tated  at  affixing  their  names  to  the  document  that  would  make  them 
traitors  to  their  King;  and  it  was  not  until  John  Witherspoon,  the 


SCOTCH-IRISH   ACHIEVEMENT.  183 

Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  preacher,  the  lineal  descendant  of  John 
Knox,  rose  in  his  place,  with  his  venerable  silvered  head  and  earnest 
oratory,  and  declared  that  his  gray  head  must  soon  bow  to  the  fate  of 
all,  and  that  he  preferred  it  to  go  by  the  ax  of  the  executioner  rather 
than  that  the  cause  of  independence  should  not  prevail,  that  the  hes 
itating  were  made  to  stand  firm,  that  the  quivering  heart  beat  its 
keenest  pulsations  for  freedom,  and  made  every  man  come  up,  one 
after  another,  and  affix  his  name  to  the  immortal  document.  What 
might  have  been  the  history  of  that  day,  if  John  Witherspoon  had 
not  lived,  and  had  not  stood  there,  as  John  Knox  stood,  centuries  be 
fore,  to  present  the  teachings  of  religion,  science,  education,  and  free 
dom,  from  which  could  be  drawn  the  inspiration,  generation  after  gen 
eration,  for  twelve  centuries?  Had  he  not  been  there,  I  know  not 
what  might  have  been  the  record  of  that  day.  I  only  know,  and  re 
joice  for  freedom  and  civilization,  that  John  Witherspoon  lived,  and 
that,  as  ever,  the  Scotch-Irish  ruled  the  great  event  of  the  day.  How 
have  they  written  their  history  amongst  us  ?  When  the  battle  came 
for  freedom,  I  need  not  tell  you  where  they  were.  I  need  not  tell  you 
that,  of  the  whole  Scotch-Irish  race  on  this  continent,  there  was  but  a 
single  exceptional  community  where  there  was  not  the  most  devoted 
loyalty  to  the  cause  of  freedom  for  which  the  colonies  fought;  and 
these  might  have  been  patriotic  if  they  had  not  been  Scotch-Irish. 
They  had  given  their  solemn  promise,  upon  parole  and  pardon,  when 
condemned  unjustly,  and  when  it  was  a  choice  between  freedom  and 
death,  and  when  their  King  had  given  them  permission  to  settle  in  the 
new  country,  that  they  would  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  King  that 
pardoned  them.  This  little  community  in  North  Carolina  was  faithful 
to  its  oath,  and  became  apparently  unfaithful  to  its  liberty.  This  is 
the  record  of  the  whole  disloyalty  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  in  this 
country  to  the  struggle  for  freedom,  and  this  stands  out  with  the 
stamp  of  Toryism  ;  but  it  is  made  lustrous  by  the  fidelity  to  the  oath 
given  to  a  King  who  had  granted  pardon. 

As  I  told  you  when  I  began,  I  know  not  where  to  turn  to  tell  you 
of  Scotch-Irish  achievement.  I  know  not  where  to  begin,  where  to 
go,  or  where  to  stop.  Don't  imagine,  from  what  I  have  said,  that  the 
Scotch-Irish  were  all  angels.  They  were  very  human.  Dr.  Macin 
tosh,  in  his  address  to  you,  summed  up  the  Irish  character  pretty  well 
in  a  single  sentence.  What  were  your  words,  doctor? 

Dr.  Macintosh : 

I  said  the  Scotch-Irish  kept  the  commandments  of  God,  and 
every  thing  else  they  got  to  lay  their  hands  on.  (Laughter.) 


184  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

Colonel  McClure : 

I  want  to  get  it  from  the  mouth  of  the  reverend  doctor,  because 
he  knows  them  quite  as  well  as  I  do.  That  was  the  truth  of  them. 
They  were  a  thrifty  people.  In  my  own  state  they  had  a  conflict  with 
the  Quakers.  The  Quakers  concluded  that  Scotch-Irish  immigration 
ought  to  be  stopped,  and  in  one  of  their  petitions  sent  to  the  council  of  my 
state,  they  declared  that  the  Scotch-Irish  were  '•  a  pernicious  and  pug 
nacious  people."  They  were  in  perpetual  conflict.  The  truth  is,  the 
Scotch-Irish  were  ever  upon  the  outskirts  of  civilization.  The  Quakers 
lived  where  they  could  live  in  peace.  They  were  a  lovely  people,  and 
we  have  the  conviction  that  they  founded  Pennsylvania  in  peace.  So 
they  did.  The  truth  is,  they  did  every  thing  to  aid  warfare,  and 
left  the  Scotch-Irish  to  fight  it  out.  They  would  go  amongst  the  In 
dians,  and  trade  with  them,  and  give  them  ammunition  and  firearms, 
because  they  were  peaceful  brothers,  and  the  Indians  would  murder 
the  Scotch-Irish,  and  the  Quakers  while  dwelling  in  peace  did  great 
good  in  dealing  justly  with  the  Indian  and  getting  him  to  kill  the 
Scotch-Irish.  They  were  in  constant  conflict.  The  Scotch-Irish  en 
tered  the  Cumberland  Valley  when  the  Quaker  was  scarcely  outside 
of  Philadelphia.  They  had  gone  to  Fort  Pitt,  and  settled  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  when  the  Quaker  was  dreaming  of  peace  along  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware ;  and  it  was  one  perpetual  struggle  of  noble 
daring  and  courage  to  maintain  their  homes  against  the  Indians  in 
that  state.  But  the  Quaker  always  protested,  always  complained,  and 
in  every  possible  way  sought  to  limit  Scotch-Irish  immigration,  or  drive 
it  from  the  state ;  and  they  did  drive  many  from  the  state.  Turn  to 
South  Carolina,  and  you  will  find  settlements  of  Scotch-Irish  from 
Pennsylvania,  who  took  with  them  the  names  of  Pennsylvania  coun 
ties — Chester,  Lancaster,  York.  Before  the  Revolutionary  War  they 
settled  many  counties  on  the  borders,  simply  because  they  got 
away  from  the  Quakers,  who  constantly  complained  of  and  criticised 
them.  These  Quakers  made  the  truest  charge  they  ever  did  when 
they  said  :  "  These  men  absolutely  want  to  control  the  province  them 
selves."  Of  course  they  did.  There  never  was  a  Scotch-Irish  com 
munity  anywhere  that  did  not  want  to  boss  every  job  around  it,  and  of 
course  these  people  in  Pennsylvania  wanted  to  control  the  colony.  The 
Quakers  wanted  nobody  but  themselves.  The  Scotch-Irish  were  the 
pioneers  of  civilization,  and  wherever  they  went  with  their  trusty 
rifles  and  built  their  log-cabins,  there  was  the  school-house,  there  was 
the  little  log  church,  for  religion  and  education  went  hand  in  hand 


SCOTCH-IRISH   ACHIEVEMENT.  185 

with  the  Scotch-Irish  wherever  they  weut,  from  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
ution  until  now;  and  what  was  true  of  Pennsylvania  was  true  of  every 
part  of  the  land  where  they  settled.  They  dominated,  and  that  was 
the  cause  of  complaint  against  them.  They  dominated,  simply  be 
cause  in  the  nature  of  things  it  could  not  be  otherwise.  They  were 
born  and  educated  a  thousand  years  as  leaders  of  men  ;  they  were  men 
of  conviction ;  they  were  men  of  faith  in  religion,  faith  in  God,  and 
faith  in  themselves,  and  tell  me  why  should  not  such  a  people  at  that 
day  resolve  that  the  land  belonged  to  the  saints,  and  that  they  were 
the  saints? 

Men  have  inquired  whether  there  is  not  a  decadence  in  the 
Scotch-Irish  character,  and  men  of  thought  and  students  of  the  race 
have  at  times  hesitated  to  answer.  Let  me  say  that  if  there  shall  be 
decadence  in  the  Scotch-Irish  race,  there  shall  be  no  conflicts  worthy  of 
the  Scoth-Irish  character  to  develop  their  grandeur  and  their  hero 
ism.  (Applause.)  Turn  but  back  to  the  last  great  conflict  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  there  was  not  a  man  upon  the  battle  field 
that  was  not  made  more  heroic  by  Scotch-Irish  leaders  and  Scotch- 
Irish  soldiers.  There  would  have  been  thousands  fewer  fallen  in  that 
conflict  but  for  the  pertinacity  of  the  Scotch-Irish  character  and  its  in 
fluence  throughout  the  whole  American  people;  and  after  read, 
ing  all  of  Grecian  and  Roman  story,  there  is  nothing  in  human 
history,  'there  is  nothing  in  all  the  conflicts  of  men,  ancient  or  modern, 
that  evidenced  such  matchless  heroism  as  was  shown  by  the  blue  and 
the  gray  that  stands  to-day  lustrous  over  all  the  heroism  of  the  earth 
a>  the  heroism  of  the  whole  American  people.  Tell  me  not  that  there 
is  decadence  in  the  Scotch-Irish  character.  There  is  no  decay,  but  there 
is  no  achievement  to-day,  because  there  is  nothing  heroic  to  achieve. 
He  is  foremost  in  the  conflict,  when  the  conflict  is  for  the  right.  He 
is  but  a  man  as  all  men  are,  human,  full  of  all  its  infirmities,  but  the 
grandeur  of  his  character,  fixed  twelve  hundred  years  ago,  is  to-day 
as  perfectly  true  to  its  teachings  as  when  Ireland,  in  her  grandeur, 
was  the  teacher  of  the  world.  When  these  men  fail  in  achievement, 
it  is  because  there  is  nothing  to  achieve.  However,  they  will  be  felt 
when  the  battle  field  is  not  to  be  found.  When  there  are  no  conflicts 
in  statesmanship,  when  the  great  issues  have  passed,  think  you  that 
the  Scotch  Irish  teaching  is  still  and  unheard  and  unfelt  in  civiliza 
tion?  No.  When  the  tempest  is  still,  and  all  is  calm  and  beautiful 
around  you,  the  dews  of  heaven  make  the  flowers  jeweled  in  the  morn 
ing,  and  your  fields  green  with  the  promise  of  future  plenty.  Thna 
with  the  Scotch-Irish  character,  in  conflict  grander  than  all ;  when 


186  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

every  conflict  shall  have  been  won  ;  when  free  is  the  banner  of  faith, 
and  liberty  has  triumphed,  then,  as  gentle  as  the  dews  of  heaven,  will  be 
felt  the  teachings  of  the  Scotch-Irish  in  behalf  of  a  civilization  which 
has  grown  for  centuries  and  centuries,  until,  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
will  the  Scotch-Irish  character  stand  out  grandest  and  most  beneficent 
in  all  the  achievements  of  men.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.    BENTON  M'MILLLN.  187 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.  BENTON  McMILLIN. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  and  Fellow  Citizens: — I  am 
happy  to  have  the  privilege  of  meeting  and  greeting  you  on  this 
auspicious  occasion.  It  is  said  to  be  well  for  a  speaker  who  comes  be 
fore  an  audieuce  for  the  first  time  to,  by  some  means,  get  into  their 
good  graces  at  an  early  moment.  I  am  going  to  do  that  by  an 
nouncing  that  I  am  too  selfish  toward  myself  and  too  generous  to  you 
to  detain  you  long  from  the  good  feast  that  awaits  you  from  the  lips 
of  one  more  eloquent  than  I  could  possibly  be. 

It  is  well  for  us  to  be  here  to-day,  not  simply  because  Scotch-Irish 
blood  flows  in  our  veins,  for  that  of  itself  is  a  minor  consideration. 
But  why,  my  friends,  are  we  here?  It  is  to  commemorate  the  deeds 
of  a  glorious  ancestry,  not  because  they  were  our  ancestors,  but  be 
cause,  by  that  commemoration,  we  may  possibly  instill  into  the  young 
men,  upon  whom  the  responsibilities  of  government  and  the  responsi 
bilities  of  defending  religious  liberty  are  soon  to  rest,  ideas  which  will 
nerve  them  to  come  up  to  those  responsibilities  with  more  of  patriotic 
fervor  and  more  of  religious  zeal  than  was  possessed  before  the  meet 
ing  of  this  assembly.  (Applause.) 

It  was  not  my  pleasure  to  be  with  you  at  the  opening  of  this 
congress,  as  had  been  arranged,  for  the  reason  that  I  was  from  home 
in  New  York  when  the  invitation  reached  me  about  the  time  of  the 
opening  of  this  assembly,  and  did  not  get  back  home  so  as  to  be  here 
at  the  inauguration  of  the  exercises.  This  I  say  in  justification  of 
myself.  I  am  glad  to  come  into  your  midst.  I  have  heard  much  of 
this  glorious  land  in  which  you  live,  and  its  unstinted  hospitality ;  I 
had  heard  of  the  magnificent  and  fiery  spirit  of  its  sons ;  I  had  heard 
of  the  beauty  and  feeling  of  its  daughters ;  but  I  can  truly  say,  in  the 
language  of  one  of  old,  that  the  half  had  not  been  told.  (Applause.) 

I  take  another  pleasure  in  coming  here.  It  is  the  home  of  one 
of  the  purest  patriots,  one  of  the  greatest  friends  I  ever  had,  a  man 
who  Tennessee  regrets  and  the  nation  regrets  is  stricken  with  affliction 
to-day,  and  for  whom  the  prayers  of  all  patriotic  people  ascend  on  this 
goodly  morn  ;  need  I  say  that  I  speak  of  your  own  distinguished  fel 
low  citizen,  General  Whitthorne?  (Applause.) 

My  friends,  it  has  been  said,  in  language  more  eloquent  than  I 
can  command,  that  the  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  is  the  history 


188  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

of  the  combat  against  physical  force  and  the  combat  against  oppression 
of  the  church  by  the  state.  I  rejoice  in  the  little  blood  that  flows  in 
my  veins  from  that  stock.  I  rejoice  in  the  memories  that  cluster 
around  the  illustrious  heroes  that  this  country  has  had,  and  I  am  glad 
that  it  is  impossible  for  the  historian  to  omit  from  the  pages  of  glori 
ous  deeds  the  actions  of  these  thrice-glorious  men.  Suppose  that  they 
could  be  obliterated,  what  would  you  have  ?  The  conquest  of  Mexico 
by  your  own  immortal  Polk  would  be  unknown,  the  defense  of  New 
Orleans  by  -Tennessee's  glorious  sons  would  be  unrecorded,  the  great 
intellectuality  of  Calhoun  would  be  unknown  to  American  youth  as 
an  inspiration  to  exertions,  and  that  fierce  and  fiery  appeal  of  a  Henry 
to  his  countrymen  to  rush  to  arms  would  never  have  resounded  down 
the  ages  to  awaken  every  man  with  the  love  to  be  free.  It  may  be 
truly  said  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  what  was  said  by  Byron,  the  great 
poet,  when  he  spoke  of  Corinth  and  said : 

"Many  a  vanquished  year  and  age 
And  tempest's  breath  and  battle's  rage 
Have  swept  o'er  Corinth,  yet  she  stands, 
A  fortress,  formed  to  freedom's  hand." 

So  it  is  with  the  Scotch-Irish  race.  They  stand  to-day  as  they  have 
stood  through  the  ages  and  the  centuries,  defending  freedom,  proclaim 
ing  the  freedom  of  the  press,  freedom  of  religion,  and  freedom  of  the  citi 
zen.  Those  three  freedoms  we  come  up  to-day  as  Scotch-Irishmen  to 
again  proclaim  the  faith  of  their  sons  as  it  was  the  faith  of  our  fathers. 
(Applause.) 

A  peculiarity  of  the  Scotch-Irishman  is  that  he  is  not  the  kind 
of  a  believer  in  freedom  of  religion  which  is  described  so  graphically, 
and  I  fear  so  truly,  by  Artemus  Ward,  when  in  his  book  he  praises  his 
ancestry  as  follows :  "  The  Wards  is  a  noble  family.  I  believe  they 
are  descended  from  the  Puritans,  that  baud  of  religious  patriots  who 
fled  from  the  land  of  persecution  to  the  land  of  freedom,  where  they 
could  not  only  enjoy  their  own  religion,  but  prevent  every  other  man 
from  enjoying  his."  That  is  the  difference  between  the  Scotch-Irish 
love  of  freedom  and  the  love  of  freedom  which  he  says  characterized 
the  Puritan.  My  friends,  when  I  look  around  at  the  great  country 
that  is  our  common  blessing  to-day,  I  feel  that  on  its  account  it  is  not 
amiss  for  us  to  meet  here  and  commemorate  the  noble  deeds  by  all 
races  and  in  all  ages.  We  have  sixty  odd  million  people  in  these 
United  States.  We  have  more  Jews  than  Jerusalem,  more  Irish  than 
Dublin,  more  Scotch  than  Edinburgh,  more  Germans  than  Berlin,  and 
still  have  more  than  50,000,000  of  native  born,  American  citizens, 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.    BENTON    M'MILLIN.  189 

noble  sons  of  noble  sires  from  every  clime  and  every  country.  Thus 
far  we  have  got  along  reasonably  well,  but  the  time  will  come  when 
the  vast  public  domain,  acquired  [\>y  our  ancestors,  will  uot  be  here 
unoccupied  as  an  inviting  field  in  times  of  calamity  and  distress  tliat 
may  occur  in  the  east  and  the  south.  My  prediction  is  that  it  will 
then  require  all  the  patriotism  of  the  patriot,  and  all  the  wisdom  of 
the  sage  to  correctly  steer  this  government  between  all  the  breakers 
that  will  rise  of  anarchism  on  one  side  and  socialism  and  the  disposi 
tion  to  control  by  other  than  patriotic  means  on  the  other.  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  that  in  its  ranks,  so  far  as  I 
know,  there  has  never  been  found  a  single  anarchist  or  socialist.  On 
the  contrary,  there  has  never  been  found  a  single  Scotch-Irishman  that 
was  not  able  to  defy  power  and  potentate,  be  he  king  or  anybody  else, 
who  stood  in  the  pathway  of  progress  and  of  right.  When  I  look 
around  in  this  beautiful  country,  I  rejoice  that  there  is  a  considerable 
amount  of  Scotch-Irish  blood  in  the  southern  states  of  the  Union  ;  and 
in  what  I  shall  say,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  deal  with  any  part  of  my 
country  except  as  a  patriot  talking  of  a  part  of  the  whole  country, 
every  foot  of  which  is  loved,  and  every  foot  of  which  every  man  of 
the  South  stands  ready  to  defend.  (Applause.)  I  don't  recur  to  the 
past  save  for  the  lessons  of  wisdom  and  instruction  and  patriotism  that 
it  may  give  us.  Twenty  odd  years  ago  there  was  not  in  all  this  land, 
from  Kentucky  to  the  gulf,  hardly  a  single  thoroughly  fenced  farm  ; 
our  homes  were  desolated,  our  farms  yielding  nothing,  our  country  de 
populated.  The  same  spirit  that  had  characterized  our  Scotch-Irish 
ancestry,  characterized  the  people  of  the  South,  and  they  have  caused 
this  country  to  bloom  as  the  rose,  until  to-day  it  is  hardly  possible  for 
a  stranger  to  detect  that  the  blighting  hand  of  war  ever  fell  upon  it. 
I  also  speak  the  truth  of  history  when  I  say  that  at  the  close  of  the 
late  war  there  was  eleven  millions  of  people  in  the  South,  seven  mil 
lions  of  whom  could  not  have  bought  their  kettle,  and  yet  the  coal 
that  lights  the  streets  of  London  is  mined  in  Kentucky,  and  the  iron 
that  makes  the  screw  to  fasten  down  the  coffin  lids  of  the  dead  English 
man  comes  from  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  and  is  manufactured  in  Con 
necticut.  Who  is  there  that  could  have  done  more  than  this,  more  than 
Aladdin  with  his  lamp?  You  men  of  the  South  deserve  much;  you 
were  never  discouraged  in  defeat.  But  a  most  potent  factor  in  the  re 
habilitation  of  the  South  was  its  glorious  women.  When  impartial 
history  shall  have  been  written,  it  may  be  truly  recorded  that  she  who 
saw  disaster  with  a  smile,  who  encountered  defeat  and  poverty  with 
out  any  thing  of  encouragement ;  she  who  uprooted  the  thorn  and 
planted  the  rose;  she,  the  woman  of  the  South,  deserves  the  praise 


190  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    IN   AMERICA. 

for  what  has  been  done ;  and  she  deserves  the  praise  for  keeping  our 
young  men  in  firmness  and  uprightness  which  alone  should  character 
ize  a  man  made  in  the  image  of  his  almighty  God.  (Applause.)  My 
friends,  we  have  a  glorious  country,  and  the  reason  I  rejoice  that 
there  is  Scotch-Irish  in  my  veins,  is  not  simply  because  it  is  Scotch- 
Irish,  but  because  it  gives  a  little  more  grit  and  a  little  more  resolu 
tion  to  see  the  right  and  to  have  the  courage  to  do  it,  and  be  a  better 
American  citizen  ;  for,  after  all,  my  greatest  ambition  is  to  be  one  of 
the  best  of  American  citizens.  But  I  promised  you  in  the  beginning 
that  I  was  not  going  to  detain  you.  Complying  with  that  promise, 
and  thanking  you  for  your  kind  attention,  I  give  place  to  one  who  can 
more  fittingly  entertain  you.  (Applause.) 


JOHN   KNOX   IN   INDEPENDENCE  HALL.  191 


JOHN  KNOX  IN  INDEPENDENCE  HALL. 

BY    REV.   JOHN    S.    MACINTOSH,   D.D. 

As  we  pace  the  story-laden  Piazzetta  of  San  Marco,  we  think  with 
stirred  souls  of  the  ducal  makers  of  Venice ;  as  we  sit  toward  sunset 
beneath  the  heavy  shadows  of  the  historic  Campanile,  we  behold  move 
past  in  stately  progress  the  majestic  makers  of  Florence ;  as  we  rest  by 
the  banks  of  the  turbid  Thames,  we  stand  amid  the  crowding  captains 
and  statesmen,  who  have  been  the  makers  of  our  own  ancestral 
Britain ;  and  as  we  turn  aside  from  the  glare  of  broad  sunlight  and 
the  din  of  the  thronged  streets  into  the  cool  shade  and  the  sacred  si 
lence  of  our  own  dear  hall  of  liberty,  our  common  nation's  hallowed 
home  of  freedom,  we  face  the  crown  and  glory  of  all  these  mighty 
men,  the  makers  of  our  own  republic. 

But  who  made  these  makers  of  our  land,  we  can  not  but  ask,  as 
we  front  our  great  dead  once  more  ?  Whence  came  these  souls  of  purest 
flame,  whose  glowing  spirit  fires  blazed  the  new  and  broad  pathway  to 
rest  and  freedom,  to  happy  homes  and  ever-enlarging  power  for  the 
weary  and  the  downtrodden  from  a  score  of  the  old  world's  packed  and 
groaning  serf-pens  ?  Who  were  the  sires  of  the  fathers  of  our  republic  ? 
Who  breathed  into  them  their  quickening  spirits;  who  flashed  into 
their  capacious  hearts  the  impulsive  inspirations ;  who  unbarred  for 
them  the  way  to  new  life,  new  rights  and  duties?  Question  of  deep 
est  interest !  Few  studies  so  tempting  as  the  studies  of  origins  !  What 
so  enchanting  as  the  search  after  the  upper  fountains  of  great  world 
streams,  the  Niles  and  the  Congos?  Who,  then,  the  sires  of  our  fathers; 
whence  their  origin  ;  what  the  fountains  of  these  life  streams  that  flowed 
together  into  the  glorious  tide  of  a  new  land  of  freemen  ? 

Like  most  potent  incantation  works  swiftly  the  question.  And 
forms  hoary  and  honored  to  us  rise  like  Samuel's  at  Endor  from  graves 
of  quiet  dignity  ;  and  as  these  august  ancients  gird  us  round,  forward 
with  glad,  bold,  almost  defiant  cry  of  recognition  and  right  filial  pride 
start  the  Puritans,  to  show  and  claim  as  their  all-honored  sires,  Milton, 
and  Hampden,  and  Sydney,  and  Pym,  and,  greatest  among  the  great, 
England's  uncrowned  Protector ;  and  forward  bound  with  Gallic  eager 
ness  the  Huguenots  to  lay  their  reverent  hands  on  Conde  and  Coligny, 
and  Calvin  and  our  own  Lafayette ;  and  forward  stride  with  firm  foot 
the  Hollanders,  pointing  out  majestically,  and  linking  their  descent 
with  William  the  Silent  and  the  sage  De  Witt,  the  dashing  Egmont, 


192  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

and  the  fearless  Van  Horn  ;  and  forward  come  the  Germans,  and 
trace  their  blood  to  the  Hohenzollerns  and  Saxon  electors,  and  Luther, 
lordliest  of  them  all.  But  amid  these  many  gladsome  and  proud  voices 
of  childhood,  and  amid  these  bold,  true  claims  upon  the  bluest  blooded 
ancestry  any  land  can  show,  one  group  has  hitherto  been  strangely 
silent.  Have  these  silent  ones,  then,  no  sacred  obligations  to  grand 
ancestral  dead  ?  Have  they  had  no  divine  preparations  for  their 
achievements  through  God-given  and  God-taught  sires?  Call  they  no 
Heaven-built  man  father?  Are  they  the  American  Melchisedeks, 
kings  verily  by  all  mightiest  proofs  and  world-wide  confession,  but 
kings  without  royal  parentage?  Nay,  verily!  But  while  Puritans 
have  made  this  land,  and  as  many  more  as  they  could  reach,  ring  time 
and  again  with  Mayflower  and  Mayflower's  men  and  women  and  their 
glorious  ancestry,  while  Dutch  and  Germans  and  French,  and  the  sons 
of  St.  George,  have  long  lifted  trumpet  tones  of  self-gratulation  be 
cause  of  their  great  fathers,  this  silent,  patient  group,  not  the  smallest 
in  the  land,  not  the  weakest,  as  every  battle  field  and  place  of  state 
and  church  and  busy  life  may  prove,  not  the  least  laurelled,  as  shows 
the  country's  roll  of  honor,  not  the  least  trusty  nor  backward  in 
danger's  hours,  nor  giving  fewest  chieftains  to  the  makers  of  this  com 
pacted  empire  of  freemen — this  silent  band  of  proud  self-repressive- 
ness  has  hitherto  said  but  little  as  to  their  own  intellectual,  political, 
patriotic  patriarch,  the  high-towering  soul  of  impulse,  the  new  creative 
force,  who  under  God  has  been  the  fountain  and  origin  of  their  most 
marked  qualities,  their  national  and  everswelling  glory.  Have,  then, 
we  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish,  for  we  have  been  the  silent  band,  unor 
ganized  and  unbound  till  this  happy  hour,  have  we  no  prophet  ?  Can 
we  call  no  seer  as  sire  from  honored  grave,  to  say  of  him  with  reverent 
affection,  "He  is  the  soul  of  fire  the  Lord  sent  to  stir  the  flames  of 
new  daring  within  our  fathers'  souls?"  Strange  if  we,  of  all,  had  not! 
Looking  round  the  portrait-lined  walls  of  our  hall  of  freedom,  gazing 
on  and  studying  with  pious  steadfastness,  those  strong,  masterful,  dis 
tinct  faces  from  Witherspoon's  and  Henry's,  round  and  round,  faces 
that  throw  out  into  so  rugged  and  characteristic  boldness  of  relief,  the 
Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  makers  of  this  republic,  we  must  feel  it  pass 
ing  strange  indeed,  if  no  one  grand,  lone  chieftain  can  be  planted  at 
the  head  of  our  clan,  and  with  a  fearless,  intelligent  pride,  pointed  out 
as  noblest  among  the  very  noble — the  peculiar  and  royal  leader  of  a 
peculiar  and  royal  race. 

Peculiar  and  royal  race ;  yes,  that  indeed  is  our  race  !  I  shrink 
not  from  magnifying  my  house  and  blood  with  a  deep  thanksgiving  to 
that  Almighty  God  who  himself  made  us  to  differ,  and  sent  His  great 


JOHN    KNOX    IN    INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  193 

messenger  to  fit  us  for  our  earth-task  ;  task  as  peculiar  and  royal  as  is 
the  race  itself;  I  shame  me  not  because  of  the  Lowland  thistle  and  the 
Ulster  gorse,  of  the  Covenanters'  banner,  or  the  Ulsterman's  pike.  If 
we  be  not  the  very  peculiar  people,  we  Scotch-Irish  are  a  most  peculiar 
people,  who  have  ever  left  our  own  broad,  distinct  mark  wherever  we 
have  come,  and  have  it  in  us  still  to  do  the  same,  even  our  critics  be 
ing  judges.  To-day  we  stand  out  sharply  distinguished  in  a  score  of 
points  from  English,  French,  Dutch,  German,  and  Swede.  We  have 
our  distinctive  marks ;  and  like  ourselves,  they  are  strong  and  stub 
born  ;  years  change  them  not,  seas  wash  them  not  out,  varying  homes 
alter  them  not,  clash  and  contact  with  new  forms  of  life,  and  fresh 
forces  of  society  blur  them  not.  Every  one  knows  the  almost  laugh 
ably  dogged  persistency  of  the  family  likeness  in  us  Scotch  Irish  a'  the 
warld  ower.  Go  where  you  may,  -know  it  once,  then  you  know  it,  ay, 
feel  it  forever.  The  typal  face,  the  typal  modes  of  thought,  the  typal 
habits  of  work,  tough  faiths,  unyielding  grit,  granitic  hardness,  close- 
mouthed  relf-repressiou,  clear,  firm  speech  when  the  truth  is  to  be 
told,  God-fearing  honesty,  loyalty  to  friendship  defiant  of  death,  con 
science  and  knee-bending  only  to  God — these  are  our  marks ;  and  they 
meet  and  greet  you  on  the  hills  of  Tennessee  and  Georgia — you  may 
trace  them  down  the  valleys  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  cross  the 
prairies  of  the  west  and  the  savannahs  of  the  south,  you  may  plow  the 
seas  to  refiud  them  in  the  western  bays  of  Sligo,  and  beneath  the 
beetling  rocks  of  Donegal ;  thence  you  may  follow  them  to  the  maiden 
walls  of  Derry,  and  among  the  winding  banks  of  the  silvery  Baun  ; 
onward  you  may  trace  them  to  the  rolling  hills  of  Down,  and  the  busy 
shores  of  Antrim  ;  and  sailing  over  the  narrow  lough  you  will  face 
them  in  our  forefathers'  cottier-homes  and  grey  keeps  of  Galloway  and 
Dumfries,  of  the  Ayrshire  hill,  and  the  Grampian  slopes. 

These  racial  marks  are  birth-marks,  and  birth-marks  are  indelible. 
And  well  for  us  and  the  world  is  it  that  they  are  indelible.  They  are 
great  soul-features,  these  marks.  They  are  principles.  The  principles 
are  the  same  every-where ;  and  these  principles  are  of  four  classes, 
religious,  moral,  intellectual,  and  political. 

Of  the  religious,  the  denominational,  the  confessional,  I  will  not 
speak,  for  this  is  neither  time  nor  place.  While  I  am  churchman  of 
my  church  through  and  through,  and  to  the  last  drop  of  my  heart's 
blood;  while  I  would  nail  the  blue  banner  of  Presbyterianisna  to 
the  very  tip  of  the  mast,  and  nail  it  there,  and  fight  to  death  to  keep 
it  there,  while  I  do  not  cease  nor  hesitate  to  claim  for  my  church  the 
truest  apostolicity,  the  fullest  catholicity,  and  the  sweetest  charity, 
13 


194  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

all  in  its  own  place  and  time ;  but  the  place  and  the  time  for  this  ec 
clesiastical  distinctiveness  is  not  here,  is  not  now. 

On  this  common  platform  of  a  race's  rally  1  hail  as  brother  my 
Episcopal  brother,  Dr.  Beckett,  and  my  Methodist  brother,  Dr.  Kelly, 
as  eloquent  on  the  platform  as  he  was  dashing  and  daring  in  the 
charge.  I  hail  as  brother  all  in  whose  veins  runs  the  good  old  blood  of 
loyalty  and  liberty,  whether  he  be  of  Scotch  church,  or  Anglican,  or 
Latin.  I  hail  all  with  gladness  who  come  from  town  or  hamlet,  hiJl 
or  glen,  that  lies  any-where  between  Cork's  green  coves  or  far  Loch 
Awe. 

On  broader  lines  than  sect  or  party,  than  clique  or  section,  we 
want  to  start  and  run  this  great  brotherhood.  We  grasp  hands  all 
round  ;  we  stretch  across  a  continent ;  we  welcome  all  our  kith  and 
kin.  Let  there  be  no  strife,  for  we  be  brethren. 

And  such  I  take  it,  from  my  conference  with  them,  are  the 
thoughts  and  desires  of  all  the  busy  and  able  officers  of  this  Congress. 
Such  I  know  to  be  the  aims  and  the  wishes,  heartfelt  wishes,  of  him 
who  is  in  very  truth  the  father  of  our  Congress,  who  first  thought  of  it, 
who  has  wrought  for  it  with  that  quiet,  resolute  energy  so  character 
istic  of  our  race,  who  has  joyed  in  its  triumphant  and  rising  success, 
but  who,  with  a  self-sacrificing  modesty,  as  noble  as  it  is  rare,  has  not 
suffered  himself  to  be  seen  or  heard  in  public,  yet  has  been  felt  every 
where,  and  always  for  "  sweetness  and  light,"  my  dear  friend,  the 
Hon.  Thomas  T.  Wright,  of  Florida ;  dear  to  me  as  the  boy  from 
Ballymonev,  little  moorland  town  of  Ireland's  Antrim,  so  closely 
linked  to  me  and  mine,  but  dearer  far  for  his  unwearying  kindness 
and  manly  virtues. 

The  sectarian  and  the  confessional  topics  I  shall  avoid,  and  of  the 
moral  I  shall  say  naught  except  as  involved  in  the  intellectual  and  the 
political.  With  ourselves,  as  citizens  and  patriots  and  politicians,  or 
rather  statesmen,  I  would  here  exclusively  deal,  and  then  with  the 
great  personal  historic  impulse  and  force  that  lie  behind  us  in  our  pe 
culiar  and  royal  citizenship  and  patriotism 

As  citizens,  we  are  pre-eminently  thinkers  and  politicians,  that  is, 
thoughtful  patriots,  who  have  an  enlightened  and  conscientious  policy 
for  the  guidance  of  land.  In  holding  by  and  working  out  their  intel 
ligent  patriotism,  our  fathers  and  brethren  have  ever  demanded,  have 
toiled  for,  paid,  fought,  suffered,  and  died  for  two  all-precious  boons, 
the  school  and  the  people's  limitations  of  governmental  control.  Ed 
ucated  freemen  we  want  to  be,  and  educated  freemen  who  shall  say 
with  sovereign  authority,  and  will  and  strength  backing  up  and  en 
forcing  our  utterance,  "  thus  far  shall  the  ruler  come,  but  no  farther." 


JOHN    KNOX    IN    INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  195 

To  us  an  enlightened  public  opinion  is  essential ;  a  public  opinion, 
not  the  haughty  mandate  of  a  despot,  nor  yet  the  bigot  cry  of  any 
self-conceited  separatist ;  and  that  enlightened  public  opinion  imme 
diately  influential  and  operative  ;  and,  when  duly  formulated  and  ex 
pressed,  final  and  mandatory.  Hence,  wherever  our  race  is,  and  has 
been  found,  there,  sooner  or  later,  these  three  things  are  met:  ra 
tional,  right-built  politics,  regulated  liberties,  and  representative  gov 
ernment;  or  as  a  quaint,  alliterative  friend  put  it  once,  the  pedagogue 
and  the  press,  the  pulpit,  platform  and  parliament.  Whosoever 
would  sway  us  must  give  the  reason,  the  whole  reason,  and  nothing 
but  the  reason,  and  that  the  sufficient  and  the  right.  Our  race  is 
every-where  hard-headed  and  firm-handed ;  we  are  a  people  of  logic 
and  law,  of  truth  and  reason,  of  rights  and  duties ;  we  call  for  free 
dom  chartered  by  highest  and  impartial  law,  and  upheld  by  the  con 
scientious  convictions  of  the  independent  commonwealth  ;  \ve  work 
for  the  willing  cohesion  of  self-respecting  and  brotherly  freemen  ;  we 
exact  the  bold  and  honest  execution  of  the  common  law  ;  we  pride 
ourselves  upon  our  sacred  love  of  the  old  customs,  "  the  use  and  the 
wont,"  so  long  as  these  are  reasonable,  just  and  useful  ;  we  admit 
changes  slowly,  but  ours  is  a  fearless  acceptance  of  the  new,  if  right, 
needed  and  practical.  We  have  feelings,  the  "  perfervidum  ingcnnnn 
Scotornm,"  but  it  is  "  passion's  steed  curbed  by  reason's  master  hand." 
Not  traditions,  but  truth  sways  us ;  but  only  truth  that  can  be  tested 
through  and  through,  truth  put  logically,  argumeutatively,  judicially. 
Not  the  haughty  dictates  of  despotic  arrogancy  constrain  us,  but  law  \ 
law  being  the  voice  and  assertion  of  righteousness,  righteousness  being 
articulate,  active,  aggressive.  Hence  we  seek  truth  that  goes  back  to 
final  truth ;  hence  we  labor  for  laws  going  back  to  supreme  righteous 
ness.  Therefore,  have  we  ever  thought  and  sought  that  the  moral 
should  bulk  both  in  the  intellectual  and  the  political.  We  wish  the 
supreme  code  both  in  our  schools  and  in  our  senates. 

This  union  of  all-ruling  truth  and  right  you  may  easily  find  in 
all  our  characteristic  philosophy  and  religion,  in  our  church  and"  our 
conduct,  in  our  politics  and  our  patriotism.  The  tone  we  love  best 
and  bow  before  most  readily  is,  "I  speak  as  unto  wise  mea— judge 
ye  what  I  say." 

Hence,  the  world  has  in  the  Scotch-Irishman  a  man  as  distinct 
from  the  Puritan  as  the  Puritan  is  from  all  other  men;  and  the  Puri 
tans  of  England  and  the  Presbyterians  of  the  Lowlands  and  of  Ul 
ster  were  the  two  pillars  of  our  national  temple.  As  we  enter  the 
hallowed  court  of  our  country's  sanctuary,  and  gaze  upon  and  contrast 
this  "Jachin"  and  this  "  Boaz,"  the  pillar-man  "established  of  Je. 


196  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IX    AMERICA. 

hovah,"  and  this  other  pillar-man  "  strengthened  from  on  high,"  we  see 
that  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  personality,  the  Scotch-Irish  believes 
in  partnership ;  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  separation,  the  Scotch- 
Irish  in  representation ;  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  individuality,  the 
Scotch-Irish  in  equality ;  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  independency, 
the  Scotch-Irish  in  liberty ;  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  experiment, 
the  Scotch-Irish  in  experience ;  while  the  Puritan  believes  in  the  town 
meeting,  the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  state  house ;  while  the  Puritan  be 
lieves  in  the  congregation,  the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  assembly. 

And  so  up  they  rise,  burly  men  of  brawn  and  of  brain,  who  say 
in  the  market,  "A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that;"  who  say  in  the  forum, 
"  Give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  you  ;"  who  say  in  the  common 
wealth,  "We  be  brethren,  let  there  be  no  strife;"  who  say  in  the 
church,  "Call  no  man  master,  for  One  is  your  Master;"  and  on  the 
battlefield,  "No  surrender,"  and  "  Keep  your  powder  dry  and  trust 
in  God;" — great,  strong,  kindly,  true-hearted  men — if  at  times  a  trifle 
grim  and  hard ;  men  of  reality,  on  whom  their  fellows  lean';  men  be 
lieving  in  broad  humanity,  solid  reason,  free  conscience,  God-taught 
faith,  and  godly  works  showing  forth  faith  ;  men  fearing  God,  but  no 
other. 

That  is  how  I  think  of  them  ;  that  is  how  I  have  seen  them  in 
a  score  of  strangely  diverse  lands ;  that  is  how  they  have  met  me  as 
man  and  minister ;  that  is  how  they  have  greeted  and  wrought  with  and 
helped  me,  by  the  old  ingle,  on  the  perilous  glacier,  in  fire,  and  on 
flood,  at  the  hospital  bed  and  on  the  play-ground,  when  they  have 
marched  out  to  battle,  and  when  they  have  laid  themselves  down  to 
die,  may  the  God  that  made  them  thus,  their  fathers'  God  and  their 
God,  bless,  preserve,  and  keep  them  every-where ! 

So  traditions  and  history  show  them  from  1889  to  1776,  from 
1776  to  1688  to  1547. 

But  at  that  eastertide  of  1547,  you  face  a  break,  a  vast,  deep  gap; 
up  to  that  date  and  up  to  that  garrison  chapel  at  old  St.  Andrew's, 
where  John  Rough  summoned  out  the  God-sent  maker  of  the  newer 
and  world-stamping  Scotland,  you  never  miss  the  one  characteristic 
face,  the  one  faith,  the  one  force;  but  before  that  day  there  was  no 
such  Scotland,  no  such  Lowland  band  of  intelligent  patriots,  no  call 
for  common  schools,  and  the  broad  equality  of  daring  freemen,  no  con 
certed  readiness  to  do  and  die  fora  free  creed  and  a  free  country; 
while  from  that  hour  onward,  these  are  never  wanting,  and  they  only 
strengthen,  as  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  multiplying  from  that 
creative  moment  spread  themselves  across  the  glad  earth  that  welcomes 
them. 


JOHN   KNOX    IN    INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  197 

That  hour  and  that  gap  are  epochal.  Such  hours  and  gaps  meet 
you  ever  and  anon,  as  you  steadily  push  your  way  down  the  historic 
pathway.  On  this  side  it  is  the  polytheists  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  on 
that  the  monotheists  of  the  tents  of  Mamre ;  on  this  side  it  is  the 
slaves  of  the  Egyptian  brick-kilns,  on  that  side  it  is  the  jubilant  free 
men  of  the  Red  Sea ;  on  this  side  it  is  the  broken-hearted  serfs  of 
Spain,  on  that  side  it  is  the  sturdy  burghers  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 

So 'twas  in  Scotland.  There  had  been  the  "making"  of  men, 
but  the  men  had  not  been  made. 

Suddenly  the  men  are,  and  never  henceforth  disappear.  No  doubt 
there  were  antecedents;  no  doubt  there  was  a  long  patience  of  divine 
toil;  no  doubt  He  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning  had  made  His 
beginning  far  off  in  the  dim  distances  of  the  race-moviugs  and  race- 
miuglings.  No  doubt  for  over  even  twelve  centuries,  the  older  Scot, 
with  his  poesy  and  piety  from  Erin's  isle,  the  roving  Pict  with  north 
ern  daring,  and  the  free-souled  Teuton,  had  poured  into  the  Strath- 
clyde,  there  in  turn  to  conquer  and  be  conquered  by  the  splendid  Brit 
ish  race  of  Arthur  and  his  knightly  band ;  and  thus  furnish  the  pe 
culiarly  rich  and  varied  blood  of  our  ancestors.  But  preparation  is 
not  product.  Possibilities  and  promises  are  not  active  aud  victorious 
powers. 

Here  is  my  point  of  agreement  with  my  friend  Colonel  McClure, 
and  also  my  point  of  divergence  from  him.  During  twelve  hundred 
and  sixty  years,  the  path  is  wending  slowly  to  the  Scotch,  whom  we 
know,  and  the  Scotch-Irish,  but  the  new  man  .is  not  on  the  path. 

You  have  the  raw  material,  but  not  the  finished  work.  It  is  the 
difference  between  the  crystalline  mass  and  the  crystal  itself.  There 
in  the  great  bowl  you  have  the  crystalline  mass ;  shoot  your  electric 
bolt  through  it,  you  have  another  and  a  new  thing,  the  true  crystal, 
with  its  strange  property  and  exact  angles. 

Up  to  that  eastertide,  1547,  your  crystalline  mass  is  gathering; 
then  came  the  master-chemist,  his  hand  shot  the  charge,  aud  the  crys 
tal  is. 

I  see  Michael  Angelo  in  the  quarries  of  Carrara ;  his  great  far- 
seeing  eye  falls  on  a  great  block  of  fresh-hewn  marble ;  the  master 
pauses,  then  starts,  and  bids  them  send  him  that  huge  block.  Now 
in  his  work-place  I  see  the  prince-sculptor  walk  up  and  down,  his 
whole  soul  heaving  with  his  thoughts  and  plans,  beside  him  the  raw 
material  of  the  rough  block,  with  its  possibilities. 

Now  he  works ;  the  flaming  spirit  burns  in  his  eager  hands,  and 
the  creative  soul  passes  through  skilled,  plastic  fingers,  into  the  dead, 
dull  thing,  from  change  to  change  it  is  carried  by  the  artist's  strength, 


198  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

till  at  last  before  the  wondering  world  it  lives — the  Moses  with  the 
Law! 

So  do  I  see,  before  1547,  lying  between  the  Grampians  and  the 
Dee,  all  across  the  historic  Strathclyde,  rarest  raw  materials,  but  after 
1547 1  see  leaders  of  the  world  with  the  law  of  God  iu  hand  and  heart. 

The  same,  yet  not  the  same.  Name  and  fortune  all  changed. 
You  stand  at  the  Straits  of  Dover  and  look  across.  On  each  side  there 
is  the  same  geologic  formation,  the  same  old,  rich  chalk  ;  but  in  be 
tween  has  burst  the  mighty  tide  of  the  sea,  and  on  the  one  stands 
France,  on  the  other  Britain,  with  histories,  and  fortunes,  and  futures 
all  so  different. 

And  thus  the  race  is  in  itself  the  same  before  1547  as  after,  but 
there  is  a  great  gulf,  and  in  between  rolls  one  vast  vitalizing  tide  of 
life.  That  separating,  yes,  transforming  tide,  was  a  man  with  such 
race-changing,  and  race-stamping  force,  as  scarce  another  has  owned 
and  wielded. 

The  epochal  gap  is  such  at  eastertide,  1547. 

And  in  that  epochal  gap  stands  one  great  prophetic  form,  our 
ancestral  seer.  Before  that  Samuel  of  the  later  hour,  you  meet  not  our 
"  school ;"  before  him  you  see  not  our  characteristic  features  of  faith  and 
freedom;  after  him  you  always  do.  And  this  lone,  massive,  formative 
man,  sent  by  the  Nations'  King  just  as  our  motherland  grew  hot  to 
whitest  heat,  and  fit  for  the  "  crown-mark,"  is  John  Knox,  at  once 
our  Moses  and  our  Joshua,  father  of  the  school,  father  of  chartered 
freedom,  father  of  Scotland,  of  Ulster;  yes,  of  us  all!  Here  is  the 
one  man  who,  God-taught  and  God-fitted,  taught  our  common  family 
how  to  balance  and  harmonize  the  freeman's  individual  rights  with 
dutiful  and  just  submission,  the  supreme  power  of  the  people,  with 
the  support  and  recognition  of  constitutional  rulers. 

From  exile  and  from  bondage  he  came  back  to  his  native  land  iu> 
the  darkest  of  her  dark  days,  to  find  Scotland  the  enslaved  province 
of  a  foreign  and  greedy  state ;  to  find  no  true  people,  no  sturdy  com 
mons,  no  brave  burghers ;  to  find  no  constitution,  no  folk-made  laws  ; 
to  find  no  common  schools,  no  free  creed  or  free  church  ;  and  he  left 
behind  him  a  steady,  courageous.  God-fearing  nation  in  a  freed  land  ; 
a  sturdy,  truth-seeking,  school-building,  conscientious  peasantry  ;  a  con 
quering,  colonizing  people,  who  guard  righteous  liberties  and  love  their 
Bible,  that  divine  Magna  Charta  of  real  freedom  ;  who  sing  "  Scots- 
wha  hae,"  or  raise  "plaintive  martyrs"  or  "wild  Dundee"  amid  the 
snow  of  Suuherlandshire  and  Canada,  the  Alleghanies  or  the  Rockies; 
who  build  states  beside  the  rolling  Ohio  or  the  floods  of  the  gulf,  and 
feel  their  strong  hearts  leap  with  gladness,  here  in  the  frosty  blasts  of 


JOHN   KNOX   IN   INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  199 

Minnesota,  or  there  in  the  soft  airs  of  Louisiana,  here  on  the  hills  and 
downs  of  Virginia,  or  there  in  the  vast  wheat-fields  of  our  West,  as 
some  familiar  voice  lifts  up  the  old  race  words : 

"  Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land." 

Before  Knox  wrought  and  enstamped  himself,  our  race  had  abili 
ties;  after  him  we  have  achievements;  before  him  capacities,  now 
careers;  before  him  powers,  now  performances;  before  him  strug- 
glings,  now  success. 

In  long  years  of  somewhat  close  historic  reading  and  of  sharp, 
interested  studies  of  national  departures  and  racial  trends,  I  have 
found  many  a  marked  and  self-impressing  leader  who,  for  some  time, 
has  made  a  nation  wax  and  molded  it  at  will ;  but  then  new  fires 
came  and  a  new  stamp.  But  I  have  not  found  one  such  other  case 
in  profane  history  where  a  single  leader  has  so  deeply,  pervasively,  and 
permanently  eustamped  himself  on  a  people  who,  of  all  folks,  stand 
foremost  among  the  self-asserting  races. 

Knox,  under  God,  made  the  Scotch  and  the  Scotch-Irish.  All 
the  race  recall  him  ;  and  the  larger  they  are  in  characteristic  build 
and  features,  the  more  obtrusive  they  are  in  racial  majesties,  by  just 
so  much  the  more  do  they  reveal  their  great  forefather's  face. 

His  own  quaint  but  invaluable  history,  McCrie's  Life,  Moncrieff's 
Studies,  Cunningham's  Lectures,  and  Froude's  all  graphic  pages  prove 
that  Knox,  first  man  of  English  speech,  formulated,  threw  in  covenant 
or  charter  form  the  balancing  principles  of  individual  independence 
and  the  authority  of  a  constitutional  government.  His  was  indeed 
the  earliest  hand  that  penned  any  thing  I  can  call  a  declaration  of  in 
dependence.  He  boldly  taught  broad  and  stirring  Scotland  these  les 
sons,  and  put  the  generative  words  into  clear  writ,  "The  authority  of 
kings  and  princes  was  originally  derived  from  the  people ;  that  the 
former  are  not  superior  to  the  latter,  collectively  considered ;  that  if 
rulers  become  tyrannical,  or  employ  their  power  for  the  destruction  of 
their  subjects,  they  may  be  lawfully  controlled,  and,  proving  incorrigi 
ble,  may  be  deposed  by  the  community  as  the  superior  power;  and 
that  tyrants  may  be  judicially  proceeded  against  even  to  a  capital 
punishment."  Mark  well  these  propositions;  they  are  far-reaching; 
they  are  fruitful.  They  will  appear  and  reappear ;  they  are  met  con 
stantly  in  Knox's  preaching;  they  are  written  with  large  letters  in  his 
famous  "Counterblast;"  they  are  restated  in  his  memorable  answer  to 
Queen  Mary  ;  they  are  set  forth  afresh  in  his  declaration  to  Elizabeth; 


200  TIIE   SOOTCMI-iUISil   IX    AMERICA. 

they  underlie  all  the  Covenants;  they  are  heard  among  the  Lords  of 
the  Congregation ;  they  were  pealed  across  Scotland  by  the  Covenant 
ers;  they  were  frequent  maxims  of  Paden  and  Cameron,  and  Walsh, 
by  Carrick's  side,  and  the  Valley  of  the  Six  Mile  Water ;  they  were 
battle  words  for  the  Ulster  Volunteers;  they  survive  to  this  very  hour 
among  the  Presbyterians  of  Connor;  they  were  fires  in  the  heart  of 
Patrick  Henry;  they  were  the  familiar  thoughts  of  John  Witherspoon  ; 
they  lie  behind  the  war  of  independence  ;  their  spirit  greets  the  world 
in  our  declaration ;  and,  therefore,  walks  forth  as  master  spirit  their 
immortal  author  in  the  dear  old  hall  of  my  native  city.  Johannes 
Knox,  semper  virens,  semper  vivans ! 

Observe  well,  the  influence  of  this  prophetic  patriot  was  felt  most 
at  St.  Andrews,  through  the  long  Strathclyde,  in  the  districts  of  Ayr, 
Dumfries,  and  Galloway,  the  Lothians  and  Renfrew.  There  exactly 
clustered  the  homes  which  thrilled  to  the  herald  voice  of  Patrick 
Hamilton  ;  there  were  the  homes  which  drank  in  the  strong  wine  of 
Knox ;  there  were  the  homes  of  tenacious  memories  and  earnest  fire 
side  talk ;  there  were  the  homes  which  sent  forth  once  and  again  the 
calm,  shrewd,  iron-nerved  patriots  who  spurned  as  devil's  lie  the  doc 
trine  of  "passive  resistance;"  and  there — mark  it  well, — were  the  homes 
that  sent  their  best  and  bravest  to  fill  and  change  Ulster;  thence  came 
in  turn  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  "  Eaglewing;"  thence  came  the  settlersof 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  ;  and 
the  sons  of  these  men  blush  not  as  they  stand  beside  the  children  of  the 
"Mayflower,"  or  the  children  of  the  Bartholomew  martyrs.  I  know 
whereof  I  affirm.  My  peculiar  education  and  somewhat  singular 
work  planted  me,  American  born,  in  the  very  heart  of  these  old  an 
cestral  scenes;  and  from  parishioners  who  held  with  deathless  grip 
the  very  words  of  Peden,  Welsh,  and  Cameron ,  from  hoary  headed 
witnesses  in  the  Route  of  Antrim  and  on  the  hills  of  Down,  have  I 
often  heard  of  the  lads  who  went  out  to  bleed  at  Valley  Forge — to  die 
as  victors  on  King's  Mountain, — and  stand  in  the  silent  triumph  of 
Yorktown.  We  have  more  to  thank  Knox  for  than  is  commonly 
told  to-day. 

Here  we  reach  our  Welshes  and  Witherspoons,  our  Tennents  and 
Taylors,  our  Calhouns  and  Clarks,  our  Cunninghams  and  Caldwells, 
our  Pollocks,  Polks,  and  Pattersons,  our  Scotts  and  Grays  and  Ken 
nedys,  our  Reynolds  and  Robinsons,  our  McCooks,  McHenrys,  McPher- 
sons  and  McDowells. 

But  the  man  behind  is  Kuox.  Would  you  see  his  monument? 
Look  around.  Yes!  To  this,  our  own  land,  more  than  any  other,  I 
am  convinced,  must  we  look  for  the  fullest  outcome  and  the  vet  all 


JOHN   KNOX   IN  INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  201 

unspent  force  of  this  more  than  royal  leader,  this  masterful  and  mold 
ing  soul.  Hither  came  the  men  most  thoroughly  saturated  with  the 
teaching  of  Knox,  because  of  their  very  special  training  and  exper 
ience  in  Ulster,  on  which  most  fertile  theme  time  will  not  suffer  me 
even  to  touch;  here  they  met  those  singular,  historic  provocations 
that  imperiously  summoned  forth  into  fiercest  but  still  strongly  ruled 
action  the  mightiest  and  most  characteristic  powers  of  their  souls  ;  here 
they  had  acute  call  and  most  magnificent  reason  to  stride  into  justest 
battle  for  the  very  principles  that  were  of  all  ancestral  gifts  the  very 
dearest  and  most  sacred ;  here  they  were  given  of  the  wise  God  and 
the  most  foolish  George  the  field  and  opportunity  to  let  stream  forth 
floods  of  energy  in  the  seeking  of  a  new  home  of  freedom  ;  here  they 
triumphed ;  here  they  won  no  second  place  in  state  and  church,  ou 
bloody  field  and  hall  of  legislation,  on  the  billow  and  in  commerce ; 
here  they  hold  their  own,  and  grow  and  multiply,  and  give  themselves 
fullest  scope  and  sweep  to  the  good  of  the  common  country,  and  their 
own  honor  and  the  glory  of  the  God  whom  alone  they  fear.  Carlyle 
has  said:  "Scotch  literature  and  thought,  Scotch  industry;  James 
Watts,  David  Hume,  Walter  Scott,  Robert  Burns.  I  find  Knox  and 
the  Reformation  at  the  heart's  core  of  every  one  of  those  persons  and 
phenomena ;  I  find  that  without  Kuox  and  the  Reformation,  they 
would  not  have  been.  Or  what  of  Scotland?"  Yea!  verily!  no 
Knox,  no  Watts,  no  Burns,  no  Scotland,  as  we  know  and  love  and  thank 
God  for!  And  must  we  not  say  no  men  of  the  Covenant;  no  men  of 
Antrim  and  DOWH,  of  Derry  and  Euniskillen;  no  men  of  the  Cum 
berland  valleys;  no  men  of  the  Virginian  hills;  no  men  of  the  Ohio 
stretch,  of  the  Georgian  glades  and  the  Tennessee  Ridge;  no  rally  at 
Scoone;  no  thunders  in  St.  Giles;  no  testimony  from  Philadelphian 
Synod;  no  Mecklenburg  declaration;  no  memorial  from  Hanover 
Presbytery;  no  Tennent  stirring  the  Carolinas ;  no  Craighead  sowing 
the  seeds  of  the  coming  revolution;  no  Witherspoon  pleading  for  the 
signing  of  our  great  charter;  and  no  such  declaration  and  no  such 
constitution  as  are  ours, — the  great  Tilghman  himself  being  witness 
in  these  clear  words,  never  by  us  to  be  let  die:  "The  framers  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  were  greatly  indebted  to  the  stand 
ards  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotlaud  in  modeling  that  admira 
ble  document." 

Never,  then,  to  us  of  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  lineage  race  of 
resolute  and  orderly  citizens,  never  let  the  name  of  Knox  bo  other 
than  battle-blast  and  household  boast,  nor  his  memory  ought  save  in 
spiration — yes,  consecration ! 


202  THE  SCOTCH-IRIS.  1    JN    AMERICA. 


SCOTCH-IRISH  SETTLERS  IN  SOUTH  CARO 
LINA,  AND  THEIR  DESCENDANTS  IN 
MAURY  COUNTY,  TENNESSEE. 

BY   HON.   W.   S.   FLEMING,   COLUMBIA,   TENN. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  in  this  paper,  to  dwell  at  any  length  upon, 
or  to  magnify  and  extol  the  racial  characteristics  of  the  Scotch-Irish — 
uor  to  investigate  the  causes  which  led  them  to  leave  their  homes  in 
Scotland,  and  to  find  new  homes  in  the  province  of  Ulster,  Ireland ; 
nor  to  inquire  into  the  motives,  be  they  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  which 
induced  or  impelled  them  to  seek  an  abode  in  the  then  wilds  of 
America.  All  this  has  been  done  and  will  be  done  by  abler  pens 
than  I  can  wield,  and  tongues  in  strains  more  eloquent  than  I  could 
ever  dare  to  attempt.  My  humble  purpose  is  to  trace  in  brief  the 
history  and  progress  of  one  colony  or  society,  more  or  less  connected 
with  each  other  by  ties  of  affinity  and  consanguinity.  And  instead 
of  entering  into  an  elaborate  discussion  of  or  treatise  upon  the  man 
ners,  customs,  habits,  and  genetic  characteristics  of  the  race  in  detail, 
I  will  attempt  to  illustrate  their  distinctive  traits  of  character  by  a 
very  brief  historic  sketch  of  this  little  colony ;  for  its  history  is  that 
of  many  others,  if  not  nearly  all,  who  emigrated  from  Ulster  to 
America.  In  the  language  of  the  Roman  poet : 
"  Ex  uno  disce  omnes." 

From  1730  to  1734,  this  colony,  the  parent  of  one  in  this  county 
of  Maury,  to  be  mentioned  presently,  migrated  to  Williamsburg 
District,  South  Carolina,  of  which  Kingstree  is  the  county  seat.  Of 
those  who  came  during  the  above  period  were  the  following  heads  of 
families :  James  McClelland,  William  and  Robert  Wilsou,  James 
Bradley,  William  Frierson,  John  James,  Roger  Gordon,  James  Arm 
strong,  Erwin,  Stuart,  McDonald,  Dobbins,  Blakely,  Dickey,  and  per 
haps  a  few  others.  In  the  last  named  year,  to  wit,  1734,  John 
Witherspoon,  of  the  same  family  with  the  distinguished  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  born  near  Glasgow,  Scotland,  in  1670, 
and  who  had  removed  to  County  Down,  Ireland,  came  to  Williams- 
burg,  bringing  with  him  his  four  sons,  David,  James,  Robert  and 
Gavin,  and  his  daughters,  Jennet,  Elizabeth  and  Mary,  with  their  hus 
bands,  John  Fleming,  William  James  (father  of  Major  John  James,  of 


SCOTCH-IRISH   SETTLEMENTS   IN    SOUTH   CAROLINA.  203 

revolutionary  memory  aud  distinction)  and  David  Wilson.  All  these 
colonists  were  from  County  Down,  Ireland.  They  were  all  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  or  reared  and  indoctrinated  in  its  faith. 
Consequently  one  of  their  first  cares  was  the  erection  of  a  house  for, 
the  worship  of  God  ;  and  the  present,  known  as  Bethel  Church,  is  the 
representative  and  successor  of  the  original  body  constituted  and 
established  by  them.  In  1849  three  of  the  original  elders,  to  wit, 
William  James,  David  Witherspoou,  and  John  Fleming,  died  of  a  sin 
gular  epidemic,  known  as  the  "  Great  Mortality,"  which  ravaged  the 
country,  carrying  off  no  less  than  eighty  persons  of  the  little  town 
ship.  For  many  of  the  foregoing  facts  I  am  indebted  to  a  historical 
discourse  delivered  on  the  120th  anniversary  of  this  church,  in  1856, 
by  Rev.  James  A.  Wallace,  its  then  pastor. 

It  is  proper  to  notice  another  family  or  connection  of  Scotch- 
Irish,  who,  coming  clown  from  Pennsylvania  through  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  settled  in  or  near  the  "  Waxhaws,"  in  Lancaster 
District,  South  Carolina.  These  were  the  Stephensous,  the  Dun- 
laps,  the  Crawfords,  Blairs,  Fosters,  and  General  Andrew  Jackson's 
parents,  who  were  nearly  related  to  the  Crawfords.  I  mention  these, 
because  both  before  and  after  the  immigration  to  Tennessee  they  be 
came  connected  by  intermarriage  with  the  Williamsburg  branch. 
They  were  all  of  the  same  religious  persuasion,  and  all  of  the  John 
Knox  type.  During  the  War  of  Independence  every  man  of  these 
settlements  capable  of  bearing  arms  was  in  the  field  on  the  side  of 
liberty.  There  was  not  a  "tory"  among  them  in  a  district  abound 
ing  with  "  tories." 

In  the  address  alluded  to  above  Mr.  Wallace  eays :  "  Among 
the  descendants  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  colonists  of  the  township, 
the  name  of  'tory'  was  unknown.  'Liberty  or  death'  was  the 
motto  of  every  man  ;  and  it  was  the  immutable  sentiment  of  every 
heart."  They  mainly  formed  "  Marion's  Brigade,"  whose  patriotism 
and  deeds  of  daring  have  passed  into  song  and  story  and  become 
household  words,  lisped  long  after  by  their  children,  and  inspiring 
with  sentiments  of  chivalry  the  youthful  minds  of  their  descendants. 
With  them  were  many  descendants  of  the  French  Huguenots,  those 
sterling  Christian  patriots,  exiled  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  united  with  them  in  one  common  faith,  political  and  religious. 
Shoulder  to  shoulder  stood  these  two  distinct  races,  through  all  the 
terrible  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  danger,  battling  for  the  same  eternal 
principles  of  truth  and  liberty—"  Man's  heritage  in  the  Church  and 
man's  heritage  in  the  State."  Simms  says:  "  The  people  of  Will 
iamsburg  were  men  generally  of  fearless  courage,  powerful  frame, 


204  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH   IN   AMERICA. 

well-strung  nerves,  aud  an  audacious  gallantry  that  led  them  to  delight 
in  dangers.  They  felt  that  '  rapture  of  the  strife '  in  which  the  Goth 
delighted." 

They  took  part  in  every  battle  fought  in  the  state  of  South  Caro 
lina,  and  some  of  them  took  part  in  the  Battle  of  King's  Mountain, 
the  thunder  of  whose  guns  sounded  the  key-note  of  Cornwallis'  dirge. 
Besides  many  minor  engagements  with  British  troops  and  lories,  they 
participated  in  the  Battles  of  Eutaw,  Cowpens,  Monk's  Corner,  Fort 
Motte,  and  Georgetown.  But  I  must  not  dwell  longer  upon  the  pat 
riotism  and  gallantry  of  this  people  in  the  old  Revolution.  Their 
record  is  without  a  stain — their  escutcheon  untarnished. 

And  now  let  us  trace  for  a  brief  space  some  of  their  descendants, 
and  follow  them  to  this  state  aud  to  this  county.  If  this  course  will 
in  any  way  illustrate  the  Scotch-Irish  character,  then  the  attempt  will 
not  be  without  profit.  This  account  deals  with  the  people  of  a  settle 
ment,  known  as  "  Zion's  Church,"  all  of  them  Scotch-Irish — an  off 
shoot  of  the  Williamsburg  colony — a  swarm  from  that  as  the  parent 
hive — always  regarded  as  a  peculiar  people,  more  so  formerly  than  at 
present ;  peculiar  in  its  intermarriages  within  itself,  so  to  speak  ;  pe 
culiar  in  its  systematic  and  thorough  instruction  of  the  young  in  the 
Westminster  Confession  and  the  Shorter  Catechism ;  peculiar  in  its 
rigid  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  such  as  no  shaving,  no  chopping  of 
wood,  no  cooking  except  the  drawing  of  coffee,  no  dinings,  no  visiting 
except  of  the  sick,  upon  that  holy  day  ;  peculiar  in  the  religious  in 
struction  given  on  Sundays  to  their  slaves,  of  whom  they  possessed  a 
very  large  number  ;  peculiar  in  their  very  exalted  standard  of  honesty 
and  morality;  peculiar  in  their  entire  exemption  from  all  legal  prose 
cutions  involving  crime  or  moral  turpitude.  Many,  if  not  most,  of 
these  peculiarities  are,  or  were,  common  to  the  Scotch-Irish  race,  but 
not  to  those  outside  of  it. 

About  the  25th  of  March,  1805,  James  Armstrong  (my  maternal 
grandfather),  Moses  G.  Frierson,  James  Blakeley,  and  Paul  Fulton, 
with  their  respective  families,  emigrated  from  Williamsburg,  South 
Carolina,  being  members  of  Bethel  congregation,  under  the  charge 
of  Rev.  James  White  Stephenson,  D.D.  After  six  weeks  of  labor 
ious  travel  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  Nashville  on  the  8th  of  May, 
1805.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  they  removed  to  the  neighbor 
hood  of  Franklin,  Williamson  County,  Tennessee,  where  they  rented 
temporary  habitations  for  themselves,  and  also  secured  places  for  some 
of  their  friends  and  relatives,  who  proposed  to  follow  them  the  ensu 
ing  year. 


SCOTCH-IRISH   SETTLEMENTS  IN   SOUTH   CAKOLINA.  205 

Accordingly,  on  the  6th  of  March,  1806,  the  following,  with  their 
several  families,  left  their  native  homes  in  South  Carolina  to  seek  their 
abode  in  the  wilds  of  Tennessee  and  join  the  four  families  who  had  pre 
ceded  them,  and  with  whom  they  were  closely  connected,  to  wit:  John 
Dickey,  Mrs.  Margaret  Frierson,  Mrs.  Jane  H.  Blakely,  Samuel  Frier- 
son,  Thos.  Stepheuson,  Wm.  Friersou,  Wm.  I.  Frierson,  Samuel  With- 
erspoon,  Elias  Frierson,  John  W.  Stephenson,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Fleming- 
(my  paternal  grandmother),  with  her  four  boys.  They  were  singularly 
blessed  and  providentially  favored  in  their  long  and  tedious  journey  by 
reason  of  the  clemency  of  the  weather,  the  low  stage  of  the  many 
water  courses  they  had  to  cross,  the  facility  for  obtaining  food  and  pr.  - 
visions  in  abundance  along  the  way,  and  their  entire  exemption  from 
disease  and  death,  although  attended  by  a  large  number  of  slaves. 
This  company  reached  their  friends  in  Williamson  county  about  the 
middle  of  April,  1806.  True  to  their  religious  training  and  habits, 
they  soon  resolved  to  meet  every  Sabbath  for  the  purpose  of  reading 
the  Scriptures,  and  of  prayer  and  praise.  They  accordingly  erected  a 
stand,  where  they  spent  most  of  each  Sabbath  in  religious  exercises. 
In  the  fall  of  1806  they  received  a  visit  from  their  old  pastor,  Dr. 
Stephenson,  who  remained  long  enough  to  preach  on  several  occasions. 
Soon  they  resolved  to  purchase  land  suitable  and  sufficient  for  a  perma 
nent  settlement.  A  part  of  General  Green's  25,000  acre  grant  was 
selected  as  the  most  eligible  and  desirable  they  could  find.  This  lies 
in  Maury  county.  The  next  question  was  whether  it  could  be  bought 
and  titles  could  be  secured  from  Green's  heirs.  Accordingly  a  mes 
senger  was  at  once  dispatched  to  their  home  on  Cumberland  Island, 
off  the  coast  of  Georgia,  near  the  mouth  of  the  River  St.  Mary,  to 
ascertain  whether  a  purchase  could  be  made,  and  if  so,  to  pay  the 
purci.ase-money  and  have  the  title  papers  executed.  Captain  George 
Dickey,  one  of  the  colony,  undertook  the  apparently  perilous  journey, 
through  the  tribes  of  Indians  then  settled  along  the  Tennessee  ami 
Chickamauga  Rivers  and  the  mountainous  regions  of  North  Georgia. 
The  response  was  favorable  for  a  sale,  which  was  soon  effected.  Eight 
square  miles,  lying  in  oblong  shape,  were  purchased  at  $3  per  acre,  the 
total  amount  being  815,360.  This  purchase  lies  in  Maury  county,  its 
nearest  boundary  line  to  Columbia,  the  county  seat,  being  about  five 
miles  west  of  that  city. 

This  purchase  lay  in  an  unsettled,  wilderness  state  at  that  time,  a 
few  scattering  habitations  in  remote  parts  of  the  county — probably  not 
one  upon  the  entire  Green  survey.  The  county  had  not  as  yet  re 
ceived  its  name;  no  settlement  to  be  found,  dating  back  as  far  as  a 
year ;  the  whole  face  of  the  country  densely  covered  with  cane,  so  that 


206  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    IN    AMERICA. 

in  but  few  spots  here  and  there  could  a  man  see  fifty  steps  in  any  di 
rection  around  him.  Wild  game  abounded,  such  as  wolves,  bear,  deer, 
and  turkeys. 

On  a  given  day  every  able-bodied  man,  with  as  many  men  slaves 
as  he  could  spare,  was  present  on  the  land  so  purchased,  at  a  desig 
nated  spot,  for  the  double  purpose  of  dividing  the  land  and  of  erecting 
a  large  log-house,  to  serve  as  a  house  of  public  worship.  This  church 
or  meeting-house  was  built  as  near  the  center  of  the  purchase  as  pos 
sible,  regard  being  had  to  the  procurement  of  water.  This  was  not  a 
matter  of  much  difficulty,  as  the  tract  abounded  in  springs  of  water 
of  excellent  quality,  as  does  the  entire  country. 

Upon  assembling,  some  proceeded  to  survey  the  land  and  lay  it 
off  into  lots  or  smaller  tracts,  to  suit  families,  while  others  were  en 
gaged  in  getting  out  timbers  for  and  in  constructing  the  church  build 
ing.  In  less  than  one  week  it  was  finished,  and  the  land  divided  into 
suitable  shares  or  sections.  Then  each  returned  to  his  home  and  fam 
ily  in  Williamson  county,  about  thirty  miles  distant,  to  make  prepara 
tion  for  his  removal. 

Think  what  a  people  this  was ;  not  a  cabin  was  built,  nor  a  move 
made  in  the  direction  of  home  and  individual  comforts,  until  a  house 
for  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  was  first  built.  In  the  fall  of  1807, 
most  of  the  little  colony  returned  to  their  new  purchase  to  rear  tem 
porary  huts  or  cabins  for  their  families ;  and  early  in  January,  1808, 
a  general  move  was  made  to  their  new  homes  and  cheaply  constructed 
habitations.  Their  labors  were  now  arduous.  Provisions  must  be 
hauled  thirty  miles  in  midwinter,  along  narrow,  newly-made,  muddy 
roads  ;  the  dense  cane  must  be  chopped  out  and  the  ground  cleared  for 
cropping.  All  these  things  required  the  closest  attention,  as  well  as 
untiring  industry. 

Soon  after  their  removal,  they  began  to  hold  services  in  their  log 
church  or  meeting-house.  Remarkable  punctuality  characterized  their 
attendance  on  divine  worship.  The  utmost  unanimity,  unaffected 
friendship,  and  cordial  hospitality  prevailed  among  them.  They  were 
yet  without  a  pastor,  or  "stated  supply, "v  yet  they  never  failed  to 
keep  up  sermon  reading,  singing,  and  prayer  on  the  Sabbath.  This 
state  of  affairs,  however,  did  not  long  continue,  for,  in  April,  1808. 
there  was  an  addition  to  their  number  in  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Stephen- 
son,  their  former  pastor,  Dr.  Samuel  Mayes,  Robert  Frierson,  and 
Joshua  Frierson,  all  from  the  same  church  in  South  Carolina.  Dr. 
Stephenson,  who  was  from  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  had  been  pastor  of 
this  people  for  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  A  sketch  of  his  life  may 
be  seen  in  Dr.  Howe's  "  History  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  Carolinas." 


SCOTCII-IUISII    SETTLEMENTS    IX    SOUTH    CA1I  >U.\A.  207 

These  last  immigrants,  at  first,  rented  farms  for  a  year  or  two  ia 
Williamson  county..  One  of  them,  old  Mr.  Robert  Friersou,  beiug  a 
very  old  man,  died,  and  on  his  death-bed  requested  that  his  remains 
should  be  taken  to  the  new  settlement,  and  be  buried  in  the  church 
yard  there,  which  was  done,  and  so  he  became  the  first  solitary  tenant 
of  that  sacred  spot. 

In  the  spring  of  1809,  Dr.  Stephenson,  having  married  Mrs.  Mary 
Fleming,  who,  with  her  four  boys,  had  already  come  to  the  country, 
as  before  stated,  removed  from  Williamson  county,  where  he  had 
rented  for  about  a  year,  to  the  Ziou  neighborhood,  and  became  at  once 
what  is  termed  "stated  supply."  An  incident  is  related  of  him,  that 
occurred  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  In  one  of  the  battles,  I 
do  not  remember  which,  but  fought  desperately,  either  at  Eutaw,  the 
"  Cowpeus,"  or  Fishing  Ford,  as  he  had  his  gun  to  his  face,  and  was 
in  the  act  of  firing,  a  ball  from  the  side  of  the  enemy  struck  his  gun 
near  the  lock  and  severed  the  barrel  from  the  breech.  At  the  instant 
a  comrade  fell  dead  by  his  side,  and  he  instantly  seized  his  gun  and 
continued  the  fight. 

This  settlement  possessed  a  large  number  of  slaves,  and  in  pro 
portion  to  the  whites  had  a  much  larger  number  than  any  other  settle 
ment  in  the  county,  and  probably  in  the  state.  For  many  years  they 
had  been  brought  over  from  Africa  to  Charleston,  and  their  ancestors 
had  been  large  purchasers.  These  slaves  were,  without  exception, 
kindly  treated  and  cared  for,  both  as  regards  their  temporal  and 
spiritual  interests,  and  the  slaves  loved  their  masters.  They  became, 
when  converted,  members  of  the  same  church,  worshiped  with  them, 
by  having  their  own  particular  seats  assigned  to  them,  and  partook  of 
the  sacraments  with  them,  but  not  occupying  the  communion-table 
at  the  same  time.  I  do  not  remember  any  more  impressive  and  touch 
ing  sight  to  my  youthful  mind  than  to  witness  them  (the  communi 
cants)  corne  down  from  the  galleries,  where  they  always  sat  during 
service,  and  march  up  the  two  aisles  in  the  body  of  the  church,  with 
a  white  elder  at  the  head  of  each  column,  singing  as  they  went  to  oc 
cupy  the  seats  around  the  long-extended  table,  just  before  occupied  by 
the  white  communicants. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Stephenson  took  charge  of  the  church  the  session 
concluded  that  a  certain  number  of  their  body  should  employ  a  por 
tion  of  each  Sabbath  in  catechising  and  instructing  the  young  people 
of  the  congregation.  The  plan  succeeded  admirably  in  familiarizing 
them  with  the  larger  and  shorter  catechisms. 

In  the  beginning  of  1811,  the  permanent  white  members  of  the 
congregation,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  numbered  about  one 


208  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   IN    AMERICA. 

hundred  and  forty.  Of  course,  the  number  of  communicants  was 
much  less,  not  exceeding  probably  thirty  or  forty,  and  this  was  a  very 
rapid  increase.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  that  in  this  year 
(1811)  a  presbytery  was  for  the  first  time  constituted  or  organized. 
Its  style  was  "The  Presbytery  of  West  Tennessee,"  and  was  held  at 
Bethsaida,  on  Fountain  Creek,  in  Maury  County.  Dr.  Stephenson 
was  made  moderator,  and  Dr.  Duncan  Brown  clerk.  The  other  minis 
ters  present  were  Rev.  Messrs.  Blackburn,  Donald,  and  Gillespie. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  the  congregation  resolved  to  provide 
ways  and  means  for  the  erection  of  a  brick  building  as  a  church.  The 
work  and  materials  were  distributed  among  the  members  in  the  pro 
portion  of  their  taxable  slave  property ;  and  on  the  5th  of  Augnst, 
1812,  the  corner-stone  of  this  grand  old  church  was  laid.  In  the  sum 
mer  and  fall  the  walls  were  carried  up,  and  in  the  spring  of  1813  the 
house  was  ready  for  preaching,  and  was  accordingly  so  used. 

Of  these  men  it  might  be  truly  said,  what  their  hearts  designed  to 
do,  their  hands,  with  all  their  might,  pursued. 

Here  we  might  close  the  early  history  of  this  church  and  congre 
gation,  but  I  must  be  permitted  to  add  that,  within  a  few  feet  of  this 
old  church  building,  a  new  church  edifice  was  erected  and  received  as 
finished  on  the  20th  of  March,  1849,  being  the  same  now  standing, 
and  in  which  the  congregation  now  worship.  It  is  built  of  brick,  large, 
commodious,  and  well  appointed. 

Of  the  ministers  who  have  had  charge,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
present  time,  are  the  following,  in  the  order  in  which  they  officiated, 
to  wit:  James  White  Stephensou,  D.D.,  who  served  them  about  forty 
years — some  sixteen  in  South  Carolina,  and  about  twenty-four  in  this 
church.  He  died  January  6,  1832.  James  M.  Aornell,  a  native  of 
New  York,  was  elected  to  succeed  him,  January  9,  1832,  and  died 
March  4,  1850.  Rev.  Duncan  Brown,  quite  an  old  man,  filled  the 
pulpit  from  time  to  time  till  the  call  of  Daniel  G.  Doak,  who  was 
elected  as  "stated  supply,"  June  20,  1850,  and  on  account  of  ill- 
health  resigned  his  position  in  1855.  Rev.  A.  A.  Doak,  father  of 
Editor  H.  M.  Doak,  was  then  called,  but  remained  only  a  short  time, 
less  than  a  year,  as  now  remembered.  Rev.  I.  Tilghman  Hendrick,  son 
of  Dr.  I.  T.  Hendrick,  formerly  of  Paducah,  Ky.,  was  elected  pastor 
October  1,  1857.  In  a  few  years  he  died,  and  upon  his  death  the 
pulpit  was  supplied  by  various  ministers — as  Rev.  C.  Foster  Williams, 
Rev.  William  Mack,  D.D.,  and  perhaps  some  others,  until  Rev.  S. 
W.  Mitchell  was  called,  who  filled  the  pulpit  for  several  years,  and 
until  his  recent  resignation  in  the  fall  of  1888.  A  call  has  been  made 


SCOTCH-IRISH  SETTLEMENrs  IN   SOUTH   CAROLINA.  209 

and  accepted  by  Rev.  Mr.  Kennedy,  who  will  enter  shortly  upon  his 
duties  as  such  minister. 

Very  few  of  that  congregation,  who  reached  the  age  of  responsi 
bility,  have  ever  neglected  to  unite  with  the  church ;  and  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  I  can  now  recall  but  three  or  four  instances  in  which 
any  male  descendants  of  these  fathers  have  left  the  church  ;  but,  I  am 
happy  to  further  say,  that  in  these  few  instances  they  have  shown 
themselves  consistent,  efficient,  useful  Christians. 

From  this  congregation  as  a  mother  hive,  her  children  have, 
from  time  to  time,  swarmed,  so  to  speak,  and  formed  colonies  or 
settlements  in  all  the  Gulf  States;  and  wherever  they  have  mi 
grated,  they  have  carried  with  them  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  From 
this  stock,  I  venture  to  say,  there  have  sprung  a  greater  number 
of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Presbyterian  faith  than  from  any 
other  in  the  United  States.  It  may  be  interesting  to  some  to  know 
who  they  were  and  who  they  are. 

I  will  first  give  the  names  of  the  ministers  who  are  the  direct 
descendants  of  the  original  colonists  and  founders  of  Zion  Church, 
without  regard  to  chronological  order :  W.  Vincent  Frierson,  de 
ceased,  of  Pontotoc,  Miss.;  W.  Vincent  Frierson,  Jr.,  of  the  same 
place;  John  Stephenson  Frierson;  John  Simpson  Frierson,  late  de 
ceased,  and  W.  J.  Frierson  of  Columbia,  Tenn.;  Jerry  Wither- 
spoon,  Nashville,  Tenn.;  T.  Dwight  Witherspoon,  Louisville,  Ky.; 
S.  Reese  Frierson,  deceased,  Stark ville,  Miss.;  Jno.  C.  McMullen, 
Chester,  S.  C.;  Rev.  Fulton,  S.  C.;  Thomas  R.  English,  York- 
ville,  S.  C.;  W.  D.  Heddelston  of  Kentucky ;  then  Robert  Gayle 
of  Mississippi  and  A.  I.  B.  Foster  of  Tennessee.  These  two  be 
came  and  now  are  Methodist  preachers.  In  all  there  are  fifteen  min 
isters,  thirteen  Presbyterian  and  two  Methodist,  descendants  of  the 
original  colonists. 

This  estimate  does  not  embrace  the  three  brothers,  David  E.,  Ed 
win  O.  and  M.  L.  Frierson,  whose  father  did  not  immigrate  to  Tenn 
essee,  nor  David  E.,  Jr.,  son  of  David  E.,  located  in  Lewisburg,  W. 
Va.  If  these  are  added  then  we  would  have  nineteen  from  this 
family  connection.  All  these  were  descendants  of  Scotch-Irish  Pres 
byterians,  who  emigrated  from  County  Down,  near  Belfast,  Ireland, 
to  Williamsburg  District,  South  Carolina,  from  1730  to  1734. 

Of  the  ministers,  who  intermarried  with  some  of  the  colonists, 

their  daughters,  grand  or   great-granddaughters,  may  be   numbered 

James  White   Stephenson,  D.  D.  Duncan   Brown,  D.D.,  James  M. 

Arnell,  J.  Tilghman  Hendrick,  C.  Foster  Williams,  S.  W.  Mitchell, 

14 


210  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN   AMERICA. 

and  Thomas  A.  Hoyte  of  Philadelphia.  All  these  preached  in  Zion 
at  different  times,  and  the  last  mentioned  three  still  survive. 

Then  there  were  Thomas  R.  English,  Sr. ,  deceased,  of  South 
Carolina ;  James  P.  McMullen,  deceased,  of  Alabama,  who  fell  in 
battle  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  of  which  he  was  chaplain ;  M.  C. 
Hutton,  of  Alabama,  and  L.  R.  Amis,  of  Tennessee.  All  these  inter 
married  with  descendants  of  these  colonists,  the  last  named  being  a 
Methodist  preacher,  quite  young  and  promising,  in  all  eleven  of  these, 
added  to  the  nineteen ,  give  us  thirty. 

Four  of  these  early  colonists  were  soldiers  in  the  war  of  inde 
pendence,  to  wit,  Dr.  Stephenson,  James  Armstrong,  Dr.  Mayes,  and 
David  Matthews.  This  entire  connection  of  people,  or  rather  their 
ancestors,  were  all  Whigs  in  that  war,  and  fought  under  Greene  and 
Marion  and  at  King's  Mountain.  They  or  their  descendants  fought 
under  Jackson  in  the  War  of  1812-14.  They  were  fully  represented 
in  the  Seminole  War  of  1837.  In  the  war  with  Mexico,  in  1848,  her 
sons  stood  before  the  walls  of  Monterey,  and  their  blood  stained  the 
plains  of  Buena  Vista.  In  the  late  war,  their  bones  lay  scattered  on 
nearly  every  battle  field  of  the  south.  At  the  tap  of  the  drum,  at 
the  call  of  the  bugle,  they  have  always  been  ready,  without  compul 
sion,  to'  gallantly  respond. 

So  it  seems  that  rigid  instruction  in  the  Calvinistic  or  John  Kuox 
faith  of  their  Scotch  ancestry  was  not  inconsistent  with  their  ideas  of 
a  lofty  patriotism. 

From  this  little  colony  of  Presbyterians,  or  rather  their  descend 
ants,  Tennessee  has  had  some  dozen  of  representatives  in  her  legis 
lative  halls,  one  speaker  in  the  state  senate,  one  United  States  senator, 
one  judge  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the  state,  two  chancellors  in 
Middle  Tennessee,  several  editors,  besides  many  very  eminent  law 
yers  and  skillful  physicians. 

Last  of  all,  but  not  least,  I  have  never  known  or  heard  of  one  of 
their  descendants  being  convicted  of  or  charged  with  any  capital  or  peni 
tentiary  offense,  or  any  less  offense  or  misdemeanor,  involving  moral 
turpitude  or  degradation  of  character. 

The  record  thus  given  of  this,  the  oldest  Presbyterian  church  in 
Maury  county,  is  worthy  of  preservation,  and  may  be  viewed  with 
pride  and  veneration  by  every  descendant,  however  remote  they  may 
be  removed  from  the  home  of  their  fathers,  or  wherever  in  this  broad 
land  Providence  may  have  cast  his  or  her  lot. 


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